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HEROES OF DISCOVERY 



IN AMERICA 



BY 

CHARLES MORRIS 

AUTHOR OF "HISTORICAL TALES,' * "HALF-HOURS WITH 
AMERICAN AUTHORS," ETC. 



SECOND EDITION REVISED AND ENLARGED 




PHILADELPHIA AND LONDON 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 



£7; 

■A 



COPYRIGHT, 1906, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 
COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 



BtC "2 \v\^ 



©Ci;A.53e8p5 



PREFACE 

There has been a high note of heroism throughout 
the history of America. From the early days of its 
settlement down to a late date the best blood of Europe 
sought its shores, — the adventurous, the daring, the 
lovers of old romance and new performance. Rarely 
has the world seen such a host of bold and brave spirits, 
ready to do and to dare, men of might who stayed not 
for difficulty and halted not for danger. These were 
the men who made America, men like Cortez and 
Pizarro, who did not hesitate to invade populous king- 
doms with a handful of warriors ; men like Orellana, 
who trusted himself boldly to the vast unknown flood 
of the Amazon ; men like La Salle, who dared the perils 
of that other great unknown stream, the Mississippi ; 
adventurers like De Soto, Champlain, and dozens of 
others that might be named, instinct with daring, bent 
on discovery, letting nothing stay them in their course, 
plunging with the spirit of heroes of romance into 
untravelled lands and endless forests, seeking fame and 
fortune amid perils manifold. 

Such were the men who discovered and explored 
America. It was a new and stupendous problem that 
confronted them. After civilized men had dwelt upon 
the earth no one knows how many thousands of 
years, a great virgin continent was reached in the 
western seas, a new world unknown and undreamed-of 
before. It was something to stir up all there is of the 
spirit of romance and adventure in human blood. Here 
was a mighty realm, inhabited by people of strange 



PREFACE 

hue and race, rilled with unknown animals and plants, 
a land of wealth, of wonder, of beauty and strangeness, 
waiting in pristine freshness to be added to the domain 
of civilized man. They were true heroes who under- 
took this work; heroes of exploration, of discovery, 
of conquest, of daring deeds and bold emprise ; heroes 
who contemned danger and death, led ever onward by 
a craving search for the new and strange, a romantic 
spirit of adventure and research. 

The explorers of this continent were great men in 
their day, and they have made a great mark on the his- 
tory of the land they made known. For more than four 
centuries their work has been kept up and it is not yet 
complete, for there are areas still in America on which 
the foot of the white man has not been set. From 
Columbus, who daringly crossed an unknown ocean to 
discover an unknown continent, to Peary, who in our 
own day has time and again plunged into the seas of 
ice in restless quest of the mysterious pole, the list is 
a long one and is filled with names of valiant and 
unconquerable men. Heroes of discovery are these 
in the highest sense, and it is fitting that the story of 
their deeds should be put upon record. This we have 
sought to do, in as full a sense as the space at our 
command permits, endeavoring to omit none of the 
great discoverers, none of the leaders in this great 
drama of the opening of a new world. It is hoped that 
readers will find these tales full of interest and inspira- 
tion and gain from them an adequate sense of what was 
accomplished in the great work of exploring a 
continent. 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

Leif the Lucky and the Discovery of Vinland 9 

Christopher Columbus, the Discoverer of America ... 14 
Americus Vespucius and the Naming of America .... 23 

The Cabots Discover the American Continent ) 32 

Balboa, the Discoverer of the Pacific 39 

Ponce de Leon and the Fountain of Youth 47 

The Voyages of Cortereal and Verrazano 52 

Ferdinand Magellan and the Circumnavigation of 

the Globe 57 

Ferdinand Cortes and the Conquest of Mexico C8 

Francisco Pizarro and the Land of the Incas 77 

- Cabeza de Vaca and His Carer of Adventure 87 

Francisco de Orellana: the Exploration of the 

Amazon 97 

Hernando de Soto and the Discovery of the Missis- 
sippi 108 

Francisco de Coronado and the Land of the Buffalo 119 
Jacques Cartier and the Discovery of the St. Law- 
rence 129 

Jean Ribault and the Huguenots in Florida 137 

Martin Frobisher and the Northwest Passage 145 

Sir Francis Drakejn the Track of Magellan 152 

Sir Humphrey Gilbert, his Failure and his Fate .... 161 

Sir Walter Raleigh, the Prince of Colonizers 166 

Bartholomew Gosnold and other Discoverers in New 

England 176 

John Smith and the Exploration of the Chesapeake 181 
Henry Hudson and the Discovery of the Hudson 

River 190 

Samuel de Champlain, the Founder of Quebec 198 

James Marquette, the First, Explorer of the Missis- 
sippi 209 



CONTENTS— Continued. 

PAGE 

Robert de la Salle and the Father of Waters 217 

Lemoyne d'Ibervtlle and the French Colony in the 

South 228 

Sieur de Verendrye and the Sea of the West 237 

Vitus Bering and the Discovery of Bering Sea 246 

The Hudson Bay Company and the Work of the Fub- 

Hunters 254 

Washington and Gist and the Forts on French Creek 263 
Daniel Boone, the Explorer and Settler of Kentucky 273 
Jonathan Carver and His Search for the Pacific .... 283 
Ledyard and Gray and the Discovery of the Columbia 

r River < . . 288 

Lewis and Clark and their Journey to the Pacific . . 296 

Zebulon M. Pike, the Discoverer of Pike's Peak 308 

Stephen H. Long and the Sources of the Platte 315 

John C. Fremont, the Pathfinder of the West 319 

The Saving of Oregon and the Adventures of Db. 

Whitman 329 

The Gallant Explorers of the Frozen Seas 338 

Robert E. Peakv and the Discovery of the North Pole 345 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



Pike's Peak and Gateway of the Garden of the 
Gods Frontispiece. 

PAGE 

Columbus before the Court of Ferdinand and Isabella 16 

Straits of Magellan 64 

Scene in the Andes Mountains 80 

De Soto Discovering the Mississippi River 114 

Street View in St. Augustine 142 

Port of Valparaiso 154 

The Hudson River, from West Point 192 

Montreal and the St. Lawrence River 198 

Rapids of St. Anthony, Minneapolis 216 

Sitka, Alaska 252 

Dalles of the Columbia River 304 

Grand Canon of the Colorado 322 

Town and Harbor of Upernivik 340 

"S.S. Roosevelt" Against the Edge of the Unbroken 

Ice Floes 346 

The Stars and Stripes at the North Pole. April 6, 1909 358 



HEROES OF DISCOVERY 
IN AMERICA 

r 

LEIF THE LUCKY AND THE DISCOVERY 
OF VINLAND 

Boldest among all early rovers of the seas were 
the daring sons of the North, the fearless vikings of 
Scandinavia, who in their open, many-oared boats ven- 
tured far out on the ocean's waves, reckless of the 
perils of storm or the swords of their foes, now raiding 
the rich lands of the south, now sailing far out into 
unknown seas. It is to these bold wanderers that we 
owe the first discovery of America. 

In the year 860 one of these daring Norsemen, 
blown far to sea by wild ocean winds, came to the 
shores of a frozen island, which he well named Ice- 
land. In 876 another adventurer was driven far be- 
yond Iceland, and in the distance saw the coast of a 
new western land, which was settled in 983 by Eric the 
Red, an outlaw from Iceland. Finding a pleasant 
grassy spot for his settlement, Eric named the coun- 
try Greenland, saying that a name like this would be 
good to bring people there. And so it did, for many 
came to that misnamed country and a settlement was 
made which lasted for centuries. 

It was one of these newcomers who first saw the 
coast of the continent of America. In the year 986 
Bjarni, a reckless sea rover, left Iceland for Green- 

9 



io HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

land, but his boat ran into a fog which hung- round 
it for days. Sun and stars alike were blotted out, and 
he was forced to sail blindly on — the sport of chance. 
At length the fog lifted, and he saw before him a broad 
land thickly covered with trees. Here were little hills ; 
here a level stretch. This was not the mountain-bor- 
dered coast of Greenland, and Bjarni sailed north, 
though his sailors wished him to land. At length 
Greenland was reached and their story told. 

The tale told by Bjarni and his men spread very 
slowly. Those were not the days of newspapers and 
telegrams, and twelve years passed before it reached 
the ears of Leif, the son of Eric the Red, who was 
then in Norway. Here was a man with a soul for dis- 
covery. If there was unknown land to the south he 
wanted to see it, and with a crew of thirty-five men, 
gathered on Greenland's shores, the bold viking sailed 
to the south. It was now the summer season of the 
year iooo, or perhaps a year before or after. 

There was land to be found in plenty. First came 
in sight a region of icy mountains, its shore covered 
with flat stones. Helluland, or " slate-land," he named 
it. Some days more brought them to a well-wooded 
shore, which Leif called Markland, or " wood-land." 
Then they stood out to sea, running swiftly before a 
brisk wind. Two days later the sailors saw land again, 
and sailed along the coast till they came to the mouth 
of a river. Up this they went till they found them- 
selves in a lake. A pleasant place it was, green and 
fertile, the weather delightful, the river and lake full 
of fish. Leif cast anchor and determined to spend the 
winter in this land of bloom and promise. 

Soon they found something that pleased them highly. 
One of the party, a " south country" man, or German, 
named Tyrker, came in one day from a ramble so ex- 



IN AMERICA ii 

cited that he made wild grimaces and talked rapidly in 
his own language, which no one understood. When 
asked what ailed him, he said, — 

" I have found vines loaded with wild grapes. Come 
and I will show them to you. I am from a land of 
vines and I love the grape, and the wine that is made 
from it." 

The news of Tyrker's find so pleased Leif that he 
named the country Vinland (wine-land). The winter 
passed pleasantly, and when spring came Leif loaded 
his vessel with timber and set sail for Greenland. On 
his way he rescued some sailors who had been ship- 
wrecked. He was afterwards known as Leif the 
Lucky, while so attractive was the story told by his 
followers of the new country that people called it 
" Vinland the Good." 

Thus it was that the Norse vikings discovered the 
continent of America. Just what part of the coast they 
reached nobody knows. Some writers think that Leif's 
winter-quarters were on the coast of Rhode Island. 
Others think that he got no farther south than Labra- 
dor. At any rate it was America, of which Bjarni and 
Leif were the first discoverers. 

Leif did not go back to this new country, but others 
did. In 1002 his brother Thorwald borrowed his ship 
and went to Vinland, where his men spent two winters. 
As for himself, he was killed in a fight with some sav- 
ages in canoes. This is the first we are told of the 
people of the land. 

In 1005 Thornstein, another of Leif's brothers, bor- 
rowed his ship and sailed south, taking with him his 
wife Gudrid. Stormy weather met them and they were 
forced to turn back, Thornstein dying on the way. But 
Gudrid was not satisfied. She had in her veins the 
Norse spirit of adventure, and the next year she mar- 



12 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

ried a man of noble birth, Thorfinn Karlsefni, whom 
she persuaded to found a colony in Vinland. 

In the spring of 1007 Thorfinn set out with three 
or four ships, one hundred and sixty men, and a num- 
ber of women. Many cattle were also on board, for 
they proposed to make their homes in pleasant Vin- 
land. Many and various were their adventures. In 
one bay they found an island where the eider-ducks 
were so numerous that it was difficult to walk about 
without stepping on their eggs. Farther south they 
sailed up a river to a lake, on the low shores of which 
were fields of wild wheat, while grape-vines grew on 
the higher land. What they called wheat must have 
been some other grain, for wheat is not native to Amer- 
ica. There were many kinds of wild animals in the 
woods, and their own cattle were landed that they 
might graze on the rich pasture. 

All might have gone well now but for the natives 
of the country, who soon came swarming round in 
boats of skin. We are told that they were swart and 
ugly, with coarse hair, large eyes, and broad cheeks. 
They were dressed in skins and armed with bows and 
arrows, slings, and stone hatchets. The Norsemen 
traded with them, giving them strips of red cloth for 
furs. When the cloth began to get scarce they cut it 
into little strips, not wider than one's finger, but the 
natives gave as much for these as for the larger pieces, 
and often more. 

This peaceful trading was brought to an end in 
an odd way. A bull belonging to the Norsemen ran 
one day out of the woods with a loud bellow, which 
set the savages running in panic to their boats or to 
the woods. It was several weeks before they came 
back and now they were in hostile mood. They at- 
tacked the settlers with their arrows and slings, and 



IN AMERICA 13 

these defended themselves with their swords and 
spears. Many of the savages were killed, but the set- 
tlers also lost many good men, and in the end Karlsefni 
decided that, though the country was fine and fruit- 
ful, they could not hold their own against the hosts of 
Skraelings — as they called the natives. So in 1010, 
three years after they had left Greenland, they loaded 
their ships with timber and furs and sailed away from 
Vinland. 

Thus ended all attempts to colonize Vinland by the 
Northmen. Many other visits were made there during 
the following centuries, but the visitors came chiefly 
for timber, and the warlike natives were left masters 
of the soil. 

It may seem strange to many of our readers that 
America remained to be discovered again five centu- 
ries after the date of Bjarni and Leif. But it must 
be borne in mind that the people of Southern Europe 
knew nothing of what was being done by the sea 
rovers of the north. The story of the voyages to Vin- 
land was written down in Iceland, and there it lay 
unknown to other lands and nearly forgotten by the 
Icelanders themselves until centuries after Columbus 
made his more famous voyage. Only within our own 
days have the famous sagas, or ancient writings, of 
Iceland been translated into other languages, and not 
till nearly four centuries after the voyage of Columbus 
did it become known in Europe that America had been 
discovered by viking wanderers five centuries before. 



i 4 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 



CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, THE DIS- 
COVERER OF AMERICA 

On the 3d of August of the year 1492 three little 
vessels set sail from the port of Palos, Spain, on one 
of the most wonderful voyages that have ever been 
made. Small craft they were for a great ocean voy- 
age, these famous caravels, as the Spaniards called 
them. The largest was only ninety feet long and 
twenty feet wide, and it alone had a deck, the others 
being open boats. On board these vessels were ninety 
persons in all, sailors and officers, their commander, 
or admiral, being an able seaman named Christopher 
Columbus. It was a small equipment for a great 
enterprise. 

If it be asked, where were these caravels bound and 
what made the voyage wonderful, an answer can easily 
be given. The people of Europe, long content with 
their own continent, were now waking up to a desire 
to know more of the outer world. Two hundred years 
before, Marco Polo, a traveller from Venice, had made 
his way across Asia and come back with an exciting 
story about China and other countries of the far East. 
A century or more later the Portuguese became daring 
voyagers, sailing south along the African shores until 
in i486 they reached the Cape of Good Hope. They 
knew now that they were on the sea-track for Asia, the 
shores of which were reached by Vasco de Gama some 
ten years later. 

This stir for travel and discovery reached the heart 
of Christopher Columbus, a daring sailor from Italy, 
who was bom in the city of Genoa about 1436, and had 



IN AMERICA 15 

sailed over all known seas. In those days there were 
curious notions about the shape of the earth. Many, 
even of the learned men of the time, believed that it 
was flat instead of round, and that any ship that sailed 
too far from land might reach the outer slope and glide 
down hill to ruin or plunge headlong over the watery 
edge. But there were men who knew better than this, 
who felt sure that the earth was round, and that a ship 
could sail straight onward until it came back to the 
point from which it started, much as a fly can walk 
round an orange and reach its starting point. 

Christopher Columbus was one of these. He did not 
think it necessary to travel thousands of miles to the 
east or to sail round the continent of Africa to reach 
the shores of Asia. He was sure they could be reached 
by sailing to the west. He never dreamed that a great 
continent lay between and that another mighty ocean 
must be crossed before Asia could be seen. Had he 
known this he would have been more eager still, for 
men always prefer to discover the new than to find the 
old. 

We shall not tell the story of the life of Columbus 
during nearly twenty years, while he was trying to get 
the people of Genoa, the king of Portugal, and the 
king and queen of Spain to aid him in the voyage he 
wished to make. We shall only say that in the end 
Queen Isabella of Spain came to his aid and he got 
the three small vessels and the handful of men with 
which he set out from Palos on that memorable 3d of 
August to seek what lay beyond the broad Atlantic. 

Trembling with terror were most of the men on 
board those sorry caravels. They had been forced to 
go against their will and they were full of dread of 
the great unknown ocean, the ** Sea of Darkness," as 
it was called. The fear of falling over the brim of the 



16 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

world was only one of the false notions which men 
held. Many believed that in the tropic seas the water 
was steaming hot, heaving up in boiling whirlpools. 
Others thought that frightful monsters would be met 
and that the helpless navigators would become their 
prey. Very likely nearly all the men on those clumsy 
vessels felt sure they were going to a dreadful death 
and bade a fearful farewell to their native land. They 
little thought they would come back as the heroes of a 
mighty discovery. 

It may be that Columbus was the only man among 
them whose eyes looked trustingly to the west as the 
shores of Spain sank from sight behind him. The 
last land seen was that of the Canary Islands, where 
they stopped to repair their ships. As these also sank 
into the eastern seas many of the sailors cried like 
children, loudly lamenting their dreadful fate. Colum- 
bus tried to cheer them by telling them of lands ahead 
filled with rich cities and teeming with gold and 
precious stones, but the poor, scared fellows were then 
in no mood to be comforted. 

A week had not passed after leaving the Canaries be- 
fore a new terror came to their minds. The compass- 
needle, their safeguard on the deep, seemed about to 
fail them. Instead of pointing to the polar star as they 
had always known it to do, it swayed to the west, and 
the pilots feared that this guide of the mariner was 
about to lose its virtue. Columbus knew the cause of 
this no better than themselves, but he explained it to 
their satisfaction, — probably not to his own, — and for 
some days all went well again. 

Then, on September 16, when they had left the last 
of the Canaries more than eight hundred miles in the 
rear, they met with a fresh source of alarm. They 
found themselves in the midst of a vast ocean meadow. 



IN AMERICA 17 

Everywhere, for many miles to right and lett, a broad, 
green expanse of grasses and sea-weeds stretched out 
before their eyes, with crabs and tunny fish swimming 
in numbers about. This was the strange Sargasso 
Sea, a region of the Atlantic six times the size of 
France, which is thickly covered with growing plants 
and full of ocean life. 

Modern ships make their way through this with 
ease, but after some days, as the wind fell, the caravels 
of Columbus were impeded by the weeds, and the sail- 
ors began to fear that they would be held fast to perish 
in that ocean meadow. But when their longest plum- 
met lines failed to reach the bottom, and when the 
freshening breeze sent them swiftly on, their terror 
was allayed. 

A third fear was that the trade-winds, which here 
blow steadily to the west, would never let them return 
again. They would have been still more frightened if 
they had known how far Spain lay behind them, but 
Columbus deceived them in this by keeping a false 
account. They had gone hundreds of miles farther 
than they knew. And thus for days and days they 
went on, until the terrified sailors were ready to throw 
their admiral overboard and turn their prows home- 
ward again. Yet through all this Columbus kept his 
hope, and daily looked forward for some sign of the 
Asiatic shores, which he felt sure lay not far ahead. 

From time to time the men were cheered with 
false cries of " land." But depression came again 
when they found that these were mere cheating banks 
of cloud. Then birds began to visit the ships, some of 
them strong-winged sea-birds, but others small land 
birds, the sight of which warmed their hearts with joy. 
Green plants also came floating over the waves, as if 
fresh from the land, while the air, as Columbus says, 



18 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

was as sweet and fragrant as April breezes in Seville. 
A carved stick was picked up and a thorn branch with 
fresh berries on it. Land was surely not far away. 

The mutiny which had been growing up against Co- 
lumbus subsided at these sights and hope took the 
place of dread. A large reward had been promised to 
the man who should first see land, and every eye looked 
eagerly forward as the vessels glided onward through 
the pleasant summer seas. 

October n came and the signs of land grew so 
plentiful that all were wild with excitement. The day 
passed and night came. About ten o'clock Columbus, 
standing on the high poop of his vessel, saw afar off a 
moving light, as if some one were carrying a torch. 
He called others and showed them the light. Onward 
they went, the " Pinta," the fastest of the caravels, in 
advance. At two o'clock in the night a gunshot from 
this vessel boomed over the water with the joyful sig- 
nal of land. It had been seen by a sailor named 
Rodrigo de Triana. Soon it was visible to all, a long, 
low coast about five miles away. Columbus had tri- 
umphed, and at his orders the ships now took in sail, 
awaiting the dawn. We may be sure that not a soul 
slept for the remainder of that night. 

Joyful enough were all on board when the morning 
of Friday, the 12th of October, dawned, and their glad 
eyes saw clearly a long, level shore, covered with trees 
like a continual orchard, while a throng of naked 
islanders came running from the woods and gazing 
with astonished eyes at the ships, a vision none of their 
race had ever seen before. They seemed like ocean 
monsters to their astounded eyes. 

The boats were lowered and quickly filled, Columbus 
wearing a rich scarlet robe and holding the royal stand- 
ard of Spain, while the Pinzon brothers, masters of 



IN AMERICA 19 

the other ships, carried each a banner adorned with a 
green cross and bearing the letters F. and L, the in- 
itials of Fernando and Isabel (Ferdinand and Isabella) 
of Spain. 

Leaping from his boat to the shore, Columbus fell 
on his knees, kissed the land, and thanked God with 
tears of joy. All did the same, while the officers 
embraced the admiral or kissed his hands, and the men 
threw themselves humbly at his feet, begging pardon 
for their mutinous behavior. 

Columbus now drew his sword, uplifted the great 
standard of Spain, and took solemn possession in the 
name of its sovereigns of the land on which he stood. 
To the island he gave the name of San Salvador. Then 
he bade all present take the oath of obedience to him 
as admiral and viceroy, and the representative of their 
sovereigns. 

All this ceremony was watched with wonder and 
awe by the simple islanders, a copper or cinnamon col- 
ored people, unlike any the Spaniards had ever seen. 
The ships to them were monsters or demons of the sea, 
the men were messengers from the sky, divine beings 
to be worshipped. Becoming more familiar, they 
began to trade tame parrots and small ornaments of 
gold for the glass beads and hawks' bells offered by the 
Spaniards. On being asked by gestures where the gold 
came from, they pointed to the south, and to the south 
the whites soon sailed, for the sight of gold filled their 
souls with hope of wealth untold. 

It was a wonderful feat that Christopher Columbus 
had performed, a remarkable discovery he had made, 
— far more so than he supposed, for to the day of his 
death he imagined that it was the shores of Asia he 
had reached. The earth to him was a far smaller 
planet than it is to us, and he did not dream that he 



20 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

had found a new continent and that Asia was still 
thousands of miles away. 

Let us follow the ships in their later course and 
Columbus in his later career. Leaving the shores of 
San Salvador, they cruised for ten days among verdant 
islands, those known to-day as the Bahamas. Then 
heading southward still, they came to the large island 
of Cuba, the marvellous beauty of whose shores and 
hills charmed the admiral. There were fields of 
strange plants, forests of unknown trees, but the cities 
and kings he sought were not to be found, the gold and 
spices he desired were nowhere seen, and the wealth 
craved by the Spaniards fled from their gaze. 

The coast of Cuba was followed far to the eastward, 
and beyond it they came to the island of Hayti, called 
by Columbus Hispaniola, and looked upon by him as 
more beautiful still than any he had seen before. Then 
on the 4th of January, 1493, the faces of the Span- 
iards were turned homeward once more, and they set 
sail for Spain, with the story of their grand discovery. 

On the 15th of March, 1493, the adventurers sailed 
into the port of Palos again, coming back in triumph 
to the town which they had left in terror a little more 
than seven months before. Never has discoverer met 
with a more enthusiastic welcome than was given to 
Columbus. The story of what he had found went 
before him, and wherever he appeared the bells were 
loudly rung and shouting crowds gathered round. As 
he neared Barcelona, where the court then was, the 
route seemed like a triumphal procession, and when 
he came before the throne, the king and queen could 
not heap honors enough upon the great discoverer. 

They looked with wonder and admiration at the 
gold, the new plants, the strange birds and beasts, the 
curious weapons and tools, which Columbus had to 



IN AMERICA 21 

show, and gazed with deep surprise on the natives with 
their red skins and strange features. In the end the 
king and queen fell on their knees and thanked God 
for the honor given to their realm by this marvellous 
achievement. 

Whatever were to be the sufferings of Columbus in 
his future life, he must then have tasted the fullest 
meed of joy. He was treated as one of the highest 
nobles of Spain, and rode through the streets side by 
side with the king. On land he was given the title 
of don, at sea that of admiral, in the new world that of 
viceroy of the king, while he was to receive a tenth part 
of all the gold, precious stones, and other valuables 
found, and an eighth part of all the profit arising from 
commerce with the new land. 

Such was the splendid promise made to Columbus. 
But all the reward he got came from his fame, for 
none of these fine promises were kept, and even his 
name failed to be given to the continent he had found. 
He made three more voyages to the New World, re- 
turning first in 1493 and remaining till 1496, during 
which time many more islands were discovered by 
him. In his third voyage, begun in 1498, he reached 
the main-land of South America and the mouth of the 
great Orinoco River. 

But enemies were rising against him, and the king 
and queen were deeply offended when he sent five ship- 
loads of Indians to Spain to be sold as slaves. It 
looked as if Columbus was better fitted for a discoverer 
than a governor. The king sent back the Indians in 
anger, and took from him his office of viceroy, send- 
ing a new governor to take his place. This man, one 
of that base sort of whom so many came from Spain to 
the New World, seized Columbus and his two brothers 
and sent them in chains to Spain. When they reached 



22 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

there everybody was filled with horror and indignation. 
Bobadilla, the governor, was removed from office, but 
Columbus was not made viceroy again. 

He sailed on a fourth voyage in 1502, and this time 
crossed the Caribbean Sea and followed the coast of 
Honduras for a long distance. He still sought the 
riches of Asia, but sought them in vain. He returned 
to Spain in 1504. It was a return strikingly unlike 
that he had made in 1493. Now there were no crowds 
to cheer him, no king to ride beside him in the streets. 
The old man — for Columbus had now grown old — was 
treated with shameful neglect, and permitted to fall 
into poverty in the land to which he had given a con- 
tinent. 

He died May 20, 1506, and in compliance with his 
request the fetters which had once been placed on his 
limbs and which he had since kept in his room, were 
buried with him in the tomb. They formed a sad 
memento of the ingratitude of Spain. He gave a New 
World to Spain. Spain gave him fetters and a grave 
in reward. 



IN AMERICA 23 



AMERICUS VESPUCIUS AND THE 
NAMING OF AMERICA 

No doubt most of our readers are familiar with the 
story of Columbus and the egg; how, when some of 
the wise courtiers of Spain said that the discovery of 
America was of no great account, that anybody could 
have done it by sailing west, he showed them that any- 
body could make an egg stand on end when they once 
knew how. But first they had to be shown how. 

When he had shown men how to reach the world 
beyond the sea it was not long before others were upon 
his track, and one of these had the fortune to have his 
name given to the new continent. By right and jus- 
tice it should have been named Columbia. By chance 
it came to be called America. We have now to tell 
how this unjust thing came about. 

When Columbus was still a boy, just beginning his 
life as a sailor, there was born in the city of Florence, 
in Italy, another boy, who was also to make his mark 
as a discoverer. He was named Amerigo Vespucci, 
but he is usually known by the Latinized name of 
Americus Vespucius. Under ordinary circumstances 
we might have heard little about him. But as blind 
chance gave his first name to the great new continent, 
he became a man of importance in the story of Ameri- 
can discovery. 

Vespucius was well educated. He learned much 
about animals and plants, astronomy and geography. 
About 1490 he was sent on business from Florence to 
Spain, and stayed there for several years. It may well 
be that while there he met Christopher Columbus, who 



24 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

was then in that country. He may, indeed, have gone 
with him to America in one of his voyages, but there 
is no proof that he did. 

At any rate, when King Ferdinand took from Co- 
lumbus the sole right to make journeys to the New 
World, and adventurers began to cross the seas in 
multitudes, Vespucius was one of the first of these, 
if we can believe his own story. He tells us that he 
sailed from Cadiz on the ioth of May, 1497, in an 
expedition composed of four vessels. It is thought he 
may have joined this expedition as an astronomer, for 
certainly, in those new seas and under those new skies, 
some one familiar with the movements of the stars 
was likely to be of Use. 

Stopping first at the Canary Islands, where Colum- 
bus had stopped some five years before, the adven- 
turers sailed straight into the west, and after twenty- 
seven days came to " a coast which we thought to be 
that of a continent." From the account given, the point 
first seen may have been Campeachy Bay, on the coast 
of Yucatan. From there they sailed to Florida and 
up the coast, how far no one knows. In the end they 
came to an archipelago about one hundred leagues 
from the coast, its chief island being called Iti. Then 
they headed for home, and reached Cadiz again on 
October 15, 1498. 

If this story is true, Vespucius saw the American 
continent eighteen days before it was seen by John 
Cabot, who is usually looked upon as its discoverer. 
But as there is no proof but his own doubtful word 
that it is true, we must still give Cabot the credit of 
the discovery. 

Vespucius tells us that he set out on a second voy- 
age in May, 1499, m a ^ eet °* three ships, whose com- 
mander was Alonza de Ojeda. Heading more to the 



IN AMERICA 25 

south, they crossed the equator, without meeting any 
of those boiling waters of which old geographers had 
dreamed, and first saw land on the coast of Brazil, 
about the point known as Cape St. Roque. This ex- 
pedition was thus the first to reach the coast of that 
great country. 

Shall we say something of other voyages to that 
land? After the return of Ojeda, with an account of 
the new land he had seen, an expedition set out to the 
same coast under Vincente Yanez Pinzon, who had 
been captain of one of the caravels of Columbus. 
While crossing the equator, near the coast of Brazil, 
though not in sight of land, Pinzon and his men were 
surprised to find the sea-water so fresh that they could 
safely drink it. Filled with wonder at this strange 
thing, he turned to the west, and soon found him- 
self in the mouth of a mighty river, the grand Ama- 
zon, nearly a hundred miles wide, and pouring out 
such vast volumes of fresh water that it made the sea- 
water drinkable for more than a hundred miles out 
from the land. 

There were other Spanish ships that reached the 
coast of Brazil, and it may seem strange that Spain 
did not claim the country of the great river, as it 
claimed all the remainder of South America. Before 
we go on with the story of Vespucius, we must tell 
how it happened that the vast region of Brazil fell 
into the keeping of Portugal. 

Let it be borne in mind that in those days Spain and 
Portugal were the great rivals in the work of dis- 
covery. While the other nations of Europe were 
taking things very easy in this field, these two coun- 
tries were sending out expedition after expedition, 
Portugal around Africa to the east, and Spain across 
the Atlantic to the west. It began to appear as if all 



26 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

the world outside of Europe was to belong to these 
two countries by the right of discovery. 

Such seems to have been the opinion of Pope Alex- 
ander VI., and under the theory that the earth really 
belonged to the Holy Church, he took it upon him- 
self to divide the new-discovered lands between Por- 
tugal and Spain. On a map of the world he drew 
a meridian line one hundred leagues west of the 
Azores, saying that all new lands found east of this 
line should belong to Portugal, those west of it to 
Spain. Luckily for Portugal, Brazil stretches so far 
to the east as to cross Alexander's imaginary line, and 
this gave Portugal a claim to that great land. Spain 
and Portugal were faithful sons of the Church of 
Rome, but the other countries of Europe paid not a 
grain of attention to the decision of the Pope. 

Portugal had another claim than this to Brazil. A 
gallant captain of that land of daring sailors reached 
this coast about the same time as Vespucius and Pinzon, 
and with no knowledge that any Spanish eye had ever 
seen it. If Columbus had not discovered America in 
1492, Pedro Alvarez de Cabral very likely would have 
discovered it in 1500, and the story of the new conti- 
nent might have been very different. 

This is how it came about. While Spain was 
making great discoveries in the west, Portugal was 
making equally great discoveries in the east. For 
many years the bold navigators of that land had been 
feeling their way from point to point down the coast 
of Africa till the Cape of Good Hope was reached by 
Bartholomew Diaz in i486. In 1497 Vasco de Gama 
sailed round Africa and reached the rich realm of 
India, from which he came back to Lisbon in July, 
1499, with his ships laden with the treasures of the 
East and with a rare tale of adventure and discovery. 



IN AMERICA 27 

For a time the fame of this great achievement threw 
the deeds of Columbus quite into the shade. India 
was teeming with wealth. America, so far as yet 
known, was a land of poverty. The eyes and the hopes 
of men were turned to the East. 

King Emmanuel of Portugal lost no time in sending 
out a fleet on Gama's track. It consisted of thirteen 
vessels, and carried about twelve hundred men, the pur- 
pose being to found a trading colony on the coast of 
Malabar. Cabral was put in command, and sailed from 
Lisbon on March 9, 1500. And now the strange thing 
happened we have hinted at above. After passing the 
Cape Verde Islands, Cabral took a westerly course. 
Just why he did so is not known. Perhaps he wished 
to avoid the troublesome calms of the Guinea coast. 
Perhaps storms drove him out of his true route. At 
any rate he went much farther west than he had in- 
tended, and on April 22 found himself in sight of land. 
He had, in latitude 16 30' S., come to the coast of 
Brazil, which here stretches far to the east. 

Thus, as we have said, if Columbus had not dis- 
covered America nearly eight years before, Cabral 
would have discovered it by accident now. Mere 
chance and the fortune of the seas brought him there, 
but as he felt sure that this new land lay to the east 
of the meridian laid down by the Pope, he claimed it 
for Portugal, taking formal possession and sending 
one of his ships back to Lisbon with the news. This 
was done on May 1, 1500, and in this way Brazil fell 
to Portugal. Spain, a loyal son of the church, would 
not dispute a claim which was based upon the Pope's 
decree, even though Spanish ships had been there 
before. 

How did this Portuguese territory get its name? 
Cabral called it Vera Cruz, which name was soon 



28 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

changed to Santa Cruz. On old maps of Brazil we 
find the names of " Land of the Holy Cross," and also 
" Land of Parrots," for some parrots of gorgeous plu- 
mage had been taken thence to Lisbon. The name of 
Brazil had a different source. In those days, when 
geography was largely a matter of fancy, many islands 
were imagined to exist in the Atlantic of which later 
voyagers have found no trace. Among them were the 
Island of the Seven Cities and the Green Isle, but 
most famous of all was the Isle of Brazil. This had 
something to do with the red dye-woods, known in the 
Middle Ages as Brazil-wood. We do not know for a 
certainty, but it is very likely that the name of the 
fancied island was applied to the vast region of South 
America now known as Brazil, and in which many 
valuable dye-woods were found. 

Now let us return to the story of Vespucius, of 
whom we have long lost sight. It was thought inter- 
esting to give these facts about Brazil, especially as 
Vespucius now passed into the service of the king of 
Portugal and took part in an expedition sent to the 
" Land of Parrots," as the new country, now claimed 
by Portugal, was at that time called. This expedition 
set sail on May 10, 1501, and reached the Brazilian 
coast three months later, after many weary days of 
calm and storm. 

The story of the voyage is told by Vespucius. In 
some places they found friendly, in others warlike, 
Indians, most of them being cannibals. But while the 
people were not to his liking, the country seemed to 
him a new Garden of Eden. The sweet and balmy 
air, the brilliant birds, the spicy herbs, the enormous 
trees, filled him with the thought that Paradise could 
not be far away. 

Sailing slowly southward, they reached, on January 



IN AMERICA 29 

1, 1502, a noble bay, called by them Rio de Janeiro, 
or river of January, probably with the idea that it was 
the mouth of another river mighty as the Amazon. 
Fifty-four years later the capital city of Brazil was 
founded on its shores. Heading southward still, they 
went far along the Brazilian coast, and were driven 
at length before a frightful storm to the desolate 
shores of the island of South Georgia, in latitude 
54 S., the most southerly waters the eyes of white 
men had ever seen. So barren and repulsive was the 
land they saw that they decided to make all haste 
home, and reached Lisbon, September 7, 1502. Among 
all the voyages of that time, there was none to surpass 
this in extent, stretching, as it did, far downward into 
the chill Antarctic seas. 

Vespucius made a fourth voyage, its object being to 
reach Malacca by sailing west. Men had not yet 
learned the difficulty of reaching Asia by this route. 
The expedition returned to Portugal with its ships well 
laden with dye-woods. In 1504, Vespucius left Portu- 
gal for Spain, and in 1505 called on his old and feeble 
friend Columbus, then dying from disease and ill-treat- 
ment. It is said by one writer that Vespucius made 
two other voyages, both of them to the Isthmus of 
Panama. He died in Seville, Spain, in 15 12. 

Now, having briefly described the voyages of this 
navigator, let us seek to learn how the new conti- 
nent came to receive his name. It was largely due to 
the fact that he was a writer, telling the story of his 
adventures and discoveries more fully than any of his 
fellow-voyagers. He wrote a diary of his fourth voy- 
age, and several letters to one of his school-day friends, 
and in these he was the first to give the new-found 
lands the name of the " New World." Of these 
writings scarcely any remain to us, but they were 



3 o HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

much read and attracted much attention in his day, 
and the name of Americus Vespucius became widely 
known in connection with the discovery of the conti- 
nent of the west. 

In speaking of the New World he did not refer to 
the discoveries of the Spanish navigators, but simply 
to those made south of the equator in his third voyage. 
He looked upon Brazil as a separate continent, a 
" Fourth Quarter" of the world. His letter to Lo- 
renzo de' Medici, in which he spoke of the supposed 
southern continent as a new world, was published in 
1504 in a small quarto of four pages, with the Latin 
title, " Mundus Novus." 

This small tract proved a great success. Many edi- 
tions of the Latin original were printed, and various 
others of a German translation, and it everywhere at- 
tracted attention. A letter of Vespucius to his school- 
fellow Soderini, in which he gave very briefly an ac- 
count of his four voyages, was also published in 1506, 
and this also was widely read. About this time a 
young German scholar, named Martin Waldseemuller, 
in association with some friends, was about to pub- 
lish a new edition of the " Geography of Ptolemy," 
adding to it the results of recent discovery. In 1507 
he issued a small treatise as an introduction to the elab- 
orate work projected, and included in this the story 
by Vespucius of his four voyages. In it the following 
interesting passage occurs. After speaking of the 
three well-known quarters of the world, — Europe, 
Asia, and Africa, — Waldseemuller goes on to say, — 

" But now these parts have been more extensively 
explored and another fourth part has been discovered 
by Americus Vespucius : wherefore I do not see what 
is rightly to hinder us from calling it Amerige, or 
America, — i,e., the land of Americus, after its dis- 



IN AMERICA 31 

coverer Americus, a man of sagacious mind, since both 
Europe and Asia have got their names from women." 

Thus it was that the name of America was first 
suggested. No one made any objection to it. It was 
applied, as may be seen, at first only to Brazil, as a 
" Fourth Quarter of the world," and no doubt people 
thought it only just that this country should bear the 
name of the man who had explored and written the 
first description of it. As for Americus himself, he 
had nothing to do with giving his name to any part 
of the New World. 

But the name spread, as names have at times a 
fashion of doing. It grew in time to cover all of South 
America. Then it reached upward and took in the 
northern continent also. It appeared on the maps and 
in the geographical works of the time until it got too 
strong a hold to be easily displaced. Thus, without any 
special intention upon the part of anyone, Columbus 
was deprived of the honor of his name being given to 
the great continent he had. discovered, and the glory 
of naming the New World went to the Florentine 
Americus Vespucius. Thus it is that chance is often 
as unjust as design. 



32 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 



THE CABOTS DISCOVER THE AMERICAN 
CONTINENT 

The return of Columbus to Spain with the story of 
his wonderful discovery rilled all Europe with sur- 
prise and admiration. It was everywhere believed that 
India and China, with their gold, pearls, and spices, 
had been found by sailing to the west, and no doubt 
several of the nations felt like sending out expeditions 
to gain their share of these treasures. But Spain 
claimed all it had found, and that country was in those 
days strong enough to hold its own, so the track of 
Columbus was left open only to the ships of Spain. 

But lands might lie to the north, where Columbus 
had not gone, and where Spain sent no ships, and 
thither the other nations felt free to go. The first to 
do so was England, of which country Henry VII. had 
lately made himself king by his defeat of the wicked 
Richard III. 

In Bristol, a seaport of that land, lived with his three 
sons a merchant and mariner named John Cabot. He 
came from Italy, and is said to have been born in 
Genoa, the native place of Columbus. Though we 
are not sure of this, we know that he lived long in 
Venice, engaged in trade, and we are told that once, 
while in Arabia, he met a caravan laden with spices 
and asked many questions about the far countries from 
which these goods of value came. Even then he may 
have had an idea of seeking those countries for him- 
self. That is all we know about him till after 1490, 
when he moved to England and made the busy city 
of Bristol his home. 



IN AMERICA 33 

In a letter, claimed to be written by Sebastian Cabot, 
a son of John Cabot, but of whose real author we are 
not aware, we are told of the great talk which the 
exploit of Columbus set going at the court of King 
Henry VII. , " insomuch that all men with great ad- 
miration affirmed it to be a thing more divine than 
human to sail by the West and into the East where 
spices grow, by a way that was never known before; 
but the fame and report thereof caused in my heart 
a great flame to arise to attempt some notable thing, 
and understanding by the sphere that if I should sail 
by the northwest I should by a shorter track come 
into India, I imparted my ideas to the king." 

Whoever may have written this letter, we know that 
John Cabot was quickly at the ear of the king, for 
the Spanish ambassador sent word to Ferdinand and 
Isabella of Spain that such a man was at the English 
court, and the ambassador was bidden to warn King 
Henry to keep away from the realms claimed by Por- 
tugal and Spain. 

Henry did not wait to hear what the king of Spain 
might say. He had already given John Cabot and his 
three sons authority " to sail to the east, west, and 
north, with five ships carrying the English flag, to 
seek and discover all the islands, countries, regions, or 
provinces of pagans in whatever part of the world. " 
They were to sail from and return to Bristol, and the 
king was to have one-fifth of all profits, though all 
he seems to have done, so far as we know, was to give 
Cabot the right to sail — at his own expense. 

At any rate, we hear nothing more of the five ships 
promised by King Henry. All we are told about is 
of one ship, the " Matthew," which had on board only 
eighteen men, a poor handful to cross an unknown 
ocean on a great voyage of discovery, Early in the 
3 



34 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

month of May, 1497, the sails of the " Matthew" were 
set and the little barque left Bristol on her famous 
voyage. 

Whither the voyagers were going they did not know, 
but their minds were full of visions of the mighty 
kingdom of Cathay, the great empire of the East, — 
China as we now call it. Then there was the rich 
island of Cipango, of which Marco Polo had brought 
back glowing reports, — the land we now know as 
Japan. But very different thoughts may have visited 
their ignorant and superstitious minds. They were 
not heading for the fragrant and blooming South, the 
land of golden dreams, an archipelago of tropical 
islands rich in bloom, of whose beauty Columbus had 
told in glowing words. Their goal was the frigid 
North, which their fertile imaginations may well have 
peopled with strange monsters, the demons, griffins, 
and other uncouth creatures in which the fancies of 
the age revelled ; possibly also of haunting spectres 
which might rise to appal them on the cold northern 
crags and capes. Even the unpeopled regions of Eu- 
rope were then held to be the haunts of such terrify- 
ing shapes, and no one could tell what the vast un- 
known beyond the ocean might contain. 

At any rate, the " Matthew" sailed away, pointing 
her prow to the north and west, and keeping steadily 
on until seven hundred long leagues lay behind. On the 
24th of June land at length was seen, we do not know 
just where, perhaps in the region of Cape Breton 
Island or Nova Scotia, perhaps on the desolate coast of 
Labrador. Cabot supposed it to be " the territory of 
the Grand Cham," as he named the ruler of China. 

We are told almost nothing of the events of this 
voyage. The story that John Cabot told no one took 
the trouble to write down. All we know is that he 



IN AMERICA 35 

sailed some three hundred leagues along the shore, and 
that he planted a large cross and left waving above it 
the English flag. And he did not forget his old home 
at Venice, for he set afloat also the banner of St. 
Mark. No men were seen, but fallen trees were there 
which men might have cut down, and the sailors found 
snares to catch game and a needle for making nets. 
Afraid to meet the natives with his little crew, Cabot 
turned his prow homeward again and reached Bristol 
about the end of July. The voyage had taken no 
more than three months. 

There is an interesting letter, dated August 23, 1497, 
and written by a Venetian gentleman, then in London, 
in which we are told something about the voyage and 
the way in which Cabot was received on his return. 

The writer says, " His name is Zuan Cabot, and 
they call him the Great Admiral. Vast honor is paid 
him, and he dresses in silk and these English run after 
him like mad people." But the king apparently did not 
think his voyage worth much, for he rewarded Cabot, 
" him that found the new isle," with the small sum of 
£10. This was worth as much then as £100, or five 
hundred dollars would be to-day, but it would not go 
far to pay the cost of a three months' voyage. Cabot 
was also granted a yearly pension of £20. 

What we do know is that in 1498 a new expedition 
was sent out, under John Cabot and his son Sebas- 
tian. But in the story of this expedition we hear of 
Sebastian Cabot only. John Cabot's name is not men- 
tioned. The fleet consisted of five or six ships, on 
board which were about three hundred men, and it set 
sail from Bristol in April, 1498. Sebastian Cabot was 
the youngest of discoverers, being then little more 
than twenty-one years old, but young as he was he 
seems to have been well fitted for the work. 



36 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

Sailing to the far northwest the explorers touched 
land at the high altitude of 67^° N., where they were 
surrounded by seas of ice. Here, at that season, the 
day was nearly twenty-four hours long. Not finding 
a gulf leading to the Indies, and his men being muti- 
nous on account of the bitter cold, Sebastian turned 
southward along the coast, no doubt taking a course 
between Newfoundland and Labrador. One important 
discovery he made, — the seas he entered were fairly 
alive with fish. " In the seas thereabout," as one 
writer tells us, " were multitudes of big fishes that 
we call tunnies, which the inhabitants called Bacca- 
laos, so thick that they sometimes stopped his ship." 
To-day we call these fish the cod, and the cod-fisheries 
of Newfoundland have ever since been famous, though 
we hear no more of fish so dense as to stop ships. We 
can hardly believe that they gave them much trouble 
even then. 

In those waters, since then the haunt of fishermen, 
the only fishers he saw were hungry bears, which leaped 
into the water and caught the swarming fish in their 
mouths. Seals and salmon also abounded in bays and 
rivers, and he saw three deer, larger than those of 
England. The natives were clad in skins, and in many 
places they were found to have copper. Nothing 
nearer the color of gold was seen. 

Cabot tried to found a colony with his men, many of 
whom are said to have been taken from the prisons 
of England. But when he came back to where he had 
left them, he found that death and suffering had been 
busy among them, and he took on board what few re- 
mained. The voyage down the coast continued to the 
latitude of 38 ° N., somewhere about Cape Hatteras. 
What bays they entered, what discoveries they made 
beyond the few named, we do not know. Never has 



IN AMERICA 37 

there been a great expedition of which so little is said. 
The Cabots were certainly silent men. We are not 
told even of the return of the ships, except that one 
of them put into an Irish port, much the worse for 
the storms it had passed through. 

In truth, the story of the voyages of the Cabots 
would not be worth the telling, so little is known about 
them, but for their high importance for several rea- 
sons. They were the first, after the far earlier North- 
men, to discover the continent of America, the Span- 
ish navigators as yet having reached islands only. And 
Sebastian Cabot was the first to recognize that he had 
reached a new continent, — not the coast of Asia, as 
everyone else then thought. Though he at first, too, 
fancied that he had touched on the coast of Eastern 
Asia, after his second voyage he was sure the " New 
Found Land" was an unknown continent. This is 
shown by his charts, which make it separate from any 
old known realms. And the discovery is also notable 
from the fact that on it England based its right to settle 
the North American shores. So the great United 
States had its foundations laid by John and Sebastian 
Cabot. 

Sebastian had a long and active life after his return. 
It is said that he made other voyages from England, 
but of this nothing is known. In 15 12 he went to live 
in Spain, as chartmaker for the king — having married 
a Spanish lady. He was to have made a voyage to 
the northwest in 15 16, but the death of King Ferdi- 
nand put an end to this project. Then he went to 
England, where he was chosen to command an expe- 
dition, but this also did not sail. 

In 1 5 18 we find him in Spain acting as pilot-major, 
and in 1526 he sailed at the head of an expedition to 
the La Plata river, in South America, and tried to plant 



38 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

colonies there, remaining until 1530. His colonies 
failed, and on his return such complaints were made 
against him that he was banished for two years to 
Oran in Africa. But this sentence was remitted 
as unjust, and the new king made him pilot-major 
again. Returning to Engiand in 1548, he was made 
inspector of the navy and given a pension, and was 
afterwards at the head of a company organized to 
discover a northeast passage to China. The most 
it did was to establish a trade with Russia by way of 
the White Sea. Soon afterwards, about 1557, the 
renowned discoverer died. A copy of his famous 
map, on which the discoveries of his father and himself 
are laid down, still exists in the National Library at 
Paris. 



IN AMERICA 39 



BALBOA, THE DISCOVERER OF THE 
PACIFIC 

Among the Spanish adventurers who thronged to 
the new lands beyond the seas was one named Vasco 
Nunez de Balboa, a cavalier of Spain. Not finding 
fortune at home, he sought it in 1501 in the fertile 
island of Hispaniola, the earliest seat of Spanish set- 
tlements in the New World. But Balboa was not the 
man to gain wealth by the peaceful methods of agri- 
culture, even with full power to use the poor natives 
for slaves. He was born for action and adventure, not 
for a quiet life, and before many years found himself 
so deeply in debt that he had no hope except to escape 
from his creditors. 

It was now the year 15 10. A vessel commanded by 
one Enciso, a lawyer of the town of San Domingo, 
was being fitted out to go to the aid of a colony 
founded on the South American shores. Here was 
the opportunity for Balboa. Being in debt, he would 
not have been allowed to leave the island, so if he went 
he must go by stealth. Provisions were being sent 
from his plantation to the ship of Enciso, and the in- 
genious runaway had himself headed up in a cask, 
supposed to be filled with bread, and smuggled on 
board with other casks of food. 

The poor fellow must have had a sorry time of it in 
his close quarters, breathing through holes bored in 
the sides and nibbling at the food he had brought in 
his pockets. But he had the courage to bear his suf- 
ferings till the vessel was far from shore, when he 
crept from his cask, whose head was not too firmly 



40 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

fixed. Making his way to the deck, a hungry and 
haggard spectacle, he fell on his knees before Enciso 
and humbly begged pardon for the trick he had played. 

The lawyer-captain was furious on seeing this woe- 
begone stranger and hearing his story. He swore and 
threatened in hot rage. It was too late to turn back 
and give the culprit up to his creditors, but there was 
a small desert island on their route, and he vowed 
he would set the rascal ashore there and leave him 
to starve. This was not done; Balboa's prayers pre- 
vailed. Enciso permitted the stowaway to remain, 
but made him earn his passage by hard work. 

When the ship reached land it was found that the 
colony they sought had been abandoned. Balboa now 
proposed that they should sail for Darien, a settle- 
ment in the isthmus where he had been once before. 
His proposal was accepted, as no better one was 
offered, and the ship was headed thither. By the time 
land was touched again Balboa had made himself a 
favorite with his fellow-adventurers, he being one 
well fitted to make his way among men. 

What followed must be briefly told. The colonists 
built a new town on the shores of the Gulf of Uraba, 
to which they gave the ample name of Santa Maria 
de la Antigua del Darien. But during its building En- 
ciso so provoked them by his overbearing temper that 
they seized and imprisoned him, and asked Balboa, the 
poor stowaway, to take his place as their alcalde, or 
head man. Enciso, when he was set free, went home 
to Spain in a fury, and there complained bitterly of the 
way he had been treated by the man whose life he had 
spared. 

Vasco Nunez de Balboa had now reached the sta- 
tion for which nature intended him, — that of a leader 
of men. He sent out parties to explore the country. 



IN AMERICA 41 

Ornaments and flakes of native gold were found, and 
their hopes rose. The leader of the exploring party- 
was a man named Pizarro, who was afterwards to 
win world-wide fame as the conqueror of the rich 
land of Peru. 

Balboa was a wise and prudent man. He made 
friends with the Indians, and treated them with jus- 
tice and humanity. As a writer of his time says, " Bal- 
boa was the best lance and the best head that ever 
protected a camp in a land of idolatrous savages." 

He conquered the Indian district of Coyba, and then 
made its ruler his friend. Farther west, at the foot 
of a range of high mountains, was another district, 
whose chief, Comagre, invited the Spaniards to visit 
him, and entertained them in his palace, — a building 
one hundred and fifty paces long and eighty broad, 
and with many apartments with finely wrought floors 
and ceilings. This chief was not a savage ; the Span- 
iards were now coming near to the civilized Indians. 

One thing was found here that pleased the Span- 
iards highly; gold seemed plentiful. The embalmed 
bodies of the ancestors of Comagre wore mantles of 
cotton embroidered with gold, pearls, and precious 
stones. The eldest son of the chief presented his guests 
with a rich offering of gold, valued at four thousand 
pesos. A fifth part of this treasure was set aside for 
the king, but when the Spaniards quarrelled over the 
division of the remainder the young Indian was sur- 
prised at their love of gold, and said to them, — 

" If you are so fond of gold as to leave your country 
for its sake, I can lead you to a place where gold is 
far more plentiful than with us, and where the people 
use it for their cups and bowls. But if you wish to 
conquer that country you will need many men, for you 
will have mighty chieftains to deal with. When you 



42 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

have passed the mountains you see yonder, you will 
see another great body of water, on which are vessels 
almost as large as yours, and having sails and oars." 

These words filled Balboa with delight. There rose 
in his mind the vision of vast wealth and the desire to 
discover and explore this mighty ocean. He fancied it 
would lead him to the rich East Indies, which Colum- 
bus had vainly sought to find. He at once began to 
prepare for the great enterprise, making friends of all 
the chieftains around, and clearing the way for the 
discovery by which he hoped to make his name less 
famous only than that of Columbus. He made Ca- 
reta, the chief of Coyba, his firm friend by marrying 
his daughter. 

The king's share of the gold obtained was sent to 
the royal treasury of San Domingo, but it never 
reached there, the vessel going down in the stormy 
sea. But stories of the great wealth of the country 
reached Spain, where the region was named Golden 
Castile. The king's treasurer at San Domingo made 
Balboa captain-general of the whole district. 

But all was not going well for Balboa. Enciso had 
made such bitter complaints to the king that orders 
were sent to Balboa to come to Spain and answer the 
charges against him. At any moment another might 
be sent to succeed him and deprive him of the fame 
and wealth for which he ardently hoped. He deter- 
mined to wait no longer, but to set out at once for 
the great ocean he had been told of. To discover it 
would be to win the favor of the king. 

It was a mighty enterprise that lay before him, the 
boldest the Spaniards had yet attempted in the New 
World. The Isthmus of Darien is not more than sixty 
miles wide, but a chain of lofty mountains, covered 
with almost impenetrable forests, traverses its extent, 



IN AMERICA 43 

joining on to the grand Andes of the south. The val- 
leys between the ranges are traversed by swift rivers, 
and are inundated by rains for nearly two-thirds of 
the year, which makes them marshy and unhealthy. 
And to these perils of nature were to be added those 
of human foes, who would perhaps bitterly contest 
the invasion of their lands. 

A thousand men would have been no great force 
for the enterprise, but Balboa could gather less than 
two hundred, with some useful allies in the shape of 
bloodhounds. A thousand Indians who went with 
him were chiefly of use in carrying the baggage of 
the expedition. Only a man especially fitted for such 
an enterprise could have carried it through success- 
fully, but Vasco de Balboa was such a man. Cour- 
age he had, but so had all those with him. His supe- 
rior powers were those of prudence and judgment, 
generosity and affability, and the varied talents by 
which a man wins the confidence and regard of his 
fellows. In battle he was always to be seen at the front ; 
in labor he was found at the point of greatest fatigue ; 
and he was ever as anxious for the comfort of his men 
as for his own. He was one of those born leaders to 
whom success is sure to come where success is pos- 
sible. 

It was on September I, 15 13, that the expedition set 
out. The rainy season had passed and the danger 
from flood was abated. Going by sea to the district 
of Coyba, the adventurers landed and marched into 
that of a chief named Ponca. The frightened Indian 
fled to the mountains, but Balboa coaxed him back by 
promises and presents and obtained guides from him. 

The next country they entered was that of a war- 
like tribe, armed with bows and arrows and flinging 
fire-hardened javelins. But these weapons were of 



44 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

little avail against men clad in iron and armed with 
muskets and swords, and the bold Indians were soon 
put to flight, many of them being slain. Some were 
torn to pieces by the ferocious dogs. 

This defeat made the other tribes fearful and ready 
to help instead of to hinder their terrible foes. But 
the difficulties of the way were great, and some of the 
hardy veterans gave way to sickness and fatigue and 
had to be left behind. The Indians had said that six 
days would bring them within view of the great sea, 
but twenty-five days of toil and peril passed without 
its being seen. Then they reached a lofty mountain, 
from whose summit they were told the mighty waters 
would be visible. 

As they drew near the peak Balboa bade his men to 
halt. He had earned the right to be the first to gaze 
on that wondrous sight. He toiled on ; he reached 
the apex; he gazed eagerly towards the far west. 
There before him lay the great South Sea, glittering 
in the rays of the descending sun, and spreading out 
in seemingly boundless extent. He fell on his knees 
and thanked Heaven for the glorious vision. 

The men, seeing him kneel, rushed eagerly forward, 
and joined in his exultation and wonder. Rising, he 
formally took possession of land and sea, in the name 
of the king of Spain. Crosses and mounds of stone 
were erected, and the name of the king was cut on 
surrounding trees. This done, they began their de- 
scent towards the sea, still several days' journey dis- 
tant. The shore reached, he ran into the water with 
drawn sword, and called on all to witness that he took 
possession of that mighty ocean in the name of his 
lord and master, the king of Spain. 

Poor Balboa, he was wasting his loyalty on a mon- 
arch who had listened to the voice of his enemy and 



IN AMERICA 45 

was sending out a governor to take his place. This 
man, named Davila, was a cruel and heartless wretch, 
a sort of human tiger, who treated the natives so 
terribly that a historian of the time said he would have 
to meet the souls of two million murdered Indians at 
the judgment day. With him came many of the cava- 
liers of Spain, eager to seek wealth in Golden Castile. 

Enciso was one of these, and at once had Balboa 
arrested and tried on various charges, but he had an 
honest judge and was acquitted of them all. The gov- 
ernor was hard to deal with, but Balboa was genial 
and good tempered and managed to keep peace with 
him for two years. 

When the king heard of his discoveries, he ap- 
pointed him adelantado, or admiral, giving him the 
rank on the sea that Davila had been given on the 
land. He at once resolved to explore the ocean he 
had discovered, with thoughts in his mind, no doubt, 
of reaching the golden land of Peru. 

But to do this an enormous labor was necessary. 
The ships that lay in the harbor of Darien had to be 
taken to pieces, and months were spent in carrying 
their heavy pieces across the rock-bound isthmus to 
the Pacific shores. Here they were put together, four 
brigantines being built, to man which there were three 
hundred men. In these Balboa set sail and reached 
the Pearl Islands, but contrary winds prevented his 
going farther. Besides, some iron and pitch were 
needed to complete the vessels, and men were sent 
across the isthmus to obtain these materials. 

During this time Davila was growing very jealous 
and avaricious. If there was gold and fame to be had, 
he did not want Balboa to win this glory and wealth. 
Some enemies of the admiral also came to Kim with 
stories of things he had said, and these the suspicious 



46 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

governor decided were treasonable against himself as 
the king's viceroy. Here was the opportunity he 
wanted. Fortunately for his designs, the need of pitch 
and iron had delayed the expedition. 

He sent a crafty letter to Balboa, written in the 
friendliest style, asking him to come to Acla, the 
capital town, and confer with him on some matters of 
business. Suspecting no treachery, Balboa at once 
obeyed. But when he came near Acla he was met by 
a body of troops, led by his old comrade Pizarro, who 
arrested him in the govenor's name. 

Davila lost no time in carrying out his treacherous 
plan. Balboa was at once put on trial on the charge 
of treason, and without delay was condemned to death, 
Davila forcing the judge to impose this sentence. The 
people, who loved Balboa, heard of this cruel sentence 
with grief, and implored Davila to pardon their friend, 
but he was not to be moved from his purpose. Before 
the sun set that day the discoverer of the Pacific had 
been tried, condemned, and beheaded in the public 
square of Acla, together with four of his friends. 

Thus died one of the noblest and ablest of the Span- 
ish adventurers, the man who, but for this treachery, 
might have added to his fame that of the conquest of 
Peru. Sad it was that he was cut off thus early in his 
career. Had this warm-hearted man, instead of the 
cruel and treacherous Pizarro, been the conqueror of 
Peru, Spain would doubtless have escaped the most 
shameful chapter in her history. 



IN AMERICA 47 



PONCE DE LEON AND THE FOUNTAIN 
OF YOUTH 

Where lies the far-famed Fountain of Youth, that 
spring of sparkling and bubbling waters around which 
bloom undying groves of glowing verdure, and whose 
life-giving streams have the magic power of restoring 
youth and strength to limbs wasted by age ? It dwells 
somewhere in the great realm of the imagination, a 
kingdom peopled by multitudes of fanciful visions. 
But in past times it was thought to exist somewhere 
upon the solid earth, and many men sought it in vain. 
The most celebrated of these was Juan Ponce de 
Leon, one of the Spanish cavaliers who sailed with 
Columbus across the seas. 

Though men talked of the Fountain of Youth, no 
man had an idea where it lay. It had been dreamed 
of for centuries, but was supposed to be hidden in 
some distant and difficult land. Marco Polo had 
brought back from the far east of Asia so many tales 
of wonder that it began to be believed that the fabled 
fountain might spring up somewhere in this remote 
region. And as the land discovered by Columbus was 
thought to be eastern Asia, it was natural to conclude 
that somewhere within its confines might be hidden the 
magic fount. 

So thought Ponce de Leon, governor of the island 
of Porto Rico. How old he was we do not well know, 
but age was certainly creeping upon him and laying 
its stiffening hand on his once active limbs. The old 
cavalier, like so many since his days, began to dread 
these signs of coming age and eagerly to ask the na- 



48 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

tives if they could tell him about the magical fountain 
of youth, which he fancied might lie somewhere in 
these tropic lands. 

Whether the Indians knew just what he meant is 
very doubtful. Their knowledge of Spanish must have 
been then very slight, but they probably were ready to 
tell him anything that would take the stern old op- 
pressor out of their land. It is said, indeed, that they 
had a tradition that such a fount existed on the island 
of Bimini, one of the Bahamas, and that nearby was 
a river with water possessing the same wonderful 
powers. This marvellous stream some of the Span- 
iards regarded as the Jordan, transferred to the New 
World. 

De Leon was afraid of growing old, but, like so 
many of the Spaniards of his day, he does not seem 
to have been afraid of anything else. When Columbus 
set out on his first voyage to the unknown west, De 
Leon was fighting in the army of King Ferdinand 
against the Moors of Spain, and none in that army was 
braver than he. In the autumn of 1493, when the 
great discoverer set sail on his second voyage, the 
wars were at an end, and De Leon took part in the 
expedition. He fought as bravely against the Indians 
of Hispaniola as against the Moors of Spain, and after- 
wards invaded the fair island of Porto Rico, which he 
conquered in 1509, making himself its governor. 
Wealth had come to him from his great possessions 
in the New World, and he prayed to be young again 
that he might enjoy with youthful zest what his good 
sword and his cruel hand had won. This it was that 
set him on his mad quest for the fabled fountain of 
youth. 

It lay in the north, that unknown north, of which 
the Spaniards as yet knew nothing beyond those isles 



IN AMERICA 49 

of beauty which Columbus had first seen. The fount 
he sought might be hidden in one of those verdant 
Bahaman isles, or in some land beyond never yet 
visited. Eager to find it and test its magic power, the 
old cavalier got ready a squadron of three vessels, and 
on March 3, 15 13, set out on his fanciful quest. 

Returning on the track of Columbus, the fair Ba- 
hamas were first reached, and the little fleet threaded 
their tropic channels, De Leon landing on the island of 
Bimini and other isles and searching eagerly but vainly 
for the magic fount. Disappointed in this, he sailed 
onward to the west, and on March 27 came within 
sight of one of the loveliest lands he had ever seen. 
Tropic luxuriance and brilliant flowers were every- 
where visible. The name of Florida, which he gave 
the new-seen land, seems as if he wished to name it 
the " land of flowers. " But the day on which he saw 
it was Easter Sunday, the Spanish name for which is 
Pascua Florida, and doubtless it was from this the 
new land was named. 

If the land was fair, the weather was not, and the 
ships were forced to keep off shore until April 9, when 
the winds abated and they were able to land near the 
mouth of St. John's River, probably not far from the 
site of the present city of St. Augustine. It may be 
that the foot of Ponce De Leon was the first white 
man's foot to press the soil of the future United States 
since the far-off age of the Northmen, for we do not 
know if the Cabots or any other navigator of the north 
had landed within its bounds. 

What the age-weary cavalier did after landing we 
do not know, but it is a romantic idea to imagine that 
he searched far and wide for the sparkling fountain 
that was to bring back youth to his aged limbs. He 
and his followers may have sought the fount or river 
4 



50 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

through the green woodlands, bathing in all the waters 
they met, the meanest of his crew perhaps being in- 
fected with the wild hope that filled his romantic brain. 
The springs of sparkling water may have attracted 
them most hopefully, since they might well look for 
the fountain of youth to be itself instinct with life and 
vital energy. We do not know just what they did, 
but at any rate no one of them found the waters of 
youth, and the hand of age still kept its grasp. 

Down the coast they sailed, league after league, per- 
haps landing at times to search for the magic spring. 
But, though months may have passed in this hopeless 
quest, the fountain of youth lay hidden from human 
eyes, and at length De Leon sailed back whence he 
had come, very likely a sadly disappointed man. 

But if he had not found the enchanted fountain, his 
voyage had not been in vain. He had reached a new 
land, the " Island of Florida," as he called it and sup- 
posed it to be. He returned to Spain to tell the king 
of his discovery, and Ferdinand rewarded him by 
making him governor of Florida, with the privilege of 
planting a colony upon its shores. 

It was a fatal privilege. De Leon returned in 1521 
with men to form the colony, but he found the natives 
far from consenting to this invasion of their land. 
What the Spaniards did to anger them we do not 
know, but they had been hostile on his former visit 
and they were doubly hostile now, greeting the new- 
comers with showers of poisoned arrows. It proved 
impossible to establish the colony, and in his fierce 
battles with the natives De Leon received a severe 
arrow wound. The brave Indians were left masters 
of their land and the ships sailed away. 

As it went onward the venom of the arrow sank 
deeper into the old man's blood, and soon after reach- 



IN AMERICA 51 

ing Cuba he died. He had found death instead of 
youth in the land of flowers, and since his day no one 
has set out upon his fanciful quest. Too strong a color 
of romance has perhaps been given to De Leon's ad- 
venture, which may have been devoted to more material 
interests. Yet, to quote from the historian Robertson, 
" The Spaniards at that period were engaged in a 
career of activity which gave a romantic turn to their 
imagination and daily presented to them strange and 
marvellous objects. They seemed to be transported 
into enchanted ground ; and, after the wonders they 
had seen, nothing in the warmth and novelty of their 
imagination, appeared to them so extraordinary as 
to be beyond belief." In view of the fact that Colum- 
bus " boasted of having found the seat of Paradise, it 
will not appear strange that Ponce De Leon should 
dream of discovering the Fountain of Youth," 



52 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 



THE VOYAGES OF CORTEREAL AND 
VERRAZANO 

Of the voyagers who followed the Cabots to the 
coast of North America we know little more than we 
do of the Cabots themselves, though in our list of dis- 
coverers we cannot omit the more important of them. 
The first to follow the Cabots were two Portuguese 
brothers, Gaspar and Miguel Cortereal. Gentlemen 
they were, of high consideration in their native land, 
though of what they did beyond the seas we know 
very little. Gaspar seems to have made two or three 
voyages in 1500 and 1501, but from the last of them 
he never returned. Then, in 1502, his brother Miguel 
sailed in search of him, but he also was swallowed up 
by the seas and never saw Portugal again, though two 
of his ships got back. 

Gaspar Cortereal called the land he found Terra de 
Labrador, — " land of laborers," — a name which later 
was given to a country farther north, the present Lab- 
rador. He sailed some six hundred or seven hundred 
miles along the coast till stopped by ice at about 50 
north. He found seas full of fish and shores covered 
with stately forests rich in verdure, many of the great 
pines being tall enough for the highest masts. The 
people were of the color of gypsies, well-made, intelli- 
gent and modest, living in wooden houses, and clothed 
in the skins of wild beasts. The people of Portugal 
learned what they were like, for he brought back fifty 
of them, who were sold as slaves. Some white bears 
were also brought home in his ships. And that is 



IN AMERICA 53 

about all we know of the voyages of Gaspar Cortereal. 

More important than these Portuguese voyages was 
that made by Giovanni da Verrazano, a native of Flor- 
ence, Italy, where he was born about 1480. What 
gives his voyage importance is the fact that it was the 
first expedition sent to the New World by France, 
which country was afterwards to play so great a part 
in North America. 

While Spain, Portugal, and England were sending 
their ships across the seas, France lay idle, taking no 
part therein. But about 1523 Francis I., a warlike 
and energetic monarch, made up his mind that his 
country was losing its chance in the great game of 
discovery. He wrote to Charles V. of Spain that " as 
he and the king of Portugal had divided the earth 
between them, without giving him a share of it, he 
should like them to show him our father Adam's will, 
in order to know if he had made them his sole heirs." 
Unless they could show this will he warned them that 
he felt free to take all he could get. 

This spicy letter was followed by quick action, Ver- 
razano being chosen to command a French exploring 
party. If Francis wanted a man who knew the west- 
ern seas, Verrazano was the one to select, since for 
years before he had been sailing over these seas and 
taking all he could get from Spain. In short, he had 
long been a corsair in the French service, and in 1523 
he captured a Spanish ship laden with the rich treasure 
sent by Cortes from Mexico to the emperor Charles 
V. We do not know if it was this that led to a com- 
plaint from Charles and Francis's brisk reply, but we 
do know that early the next year Verrazano was given 
a ship, the " Dauphine," manned by about fifty men, 
and sent across the seas " to discover new lands" for 
the king of France. 



54 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

Verrazano sailed across the mid-Atlantic and first 
saw land in the latitude of 34 N., probably near Cape 
Fear, North Carolina, " a newe land never before seen 
by any man either auncient or moderne." From this 
point he ran south about fifty leagues, then turned and 
sailed steadily to the north. He found the shore 
covered with fine sand, rising in the rear into little 
hills. The coast seemed bordered with islands, 
through which the sea broke in inlets. Farther back 
there lay a country with beautiful fields and broad 
plains covered with vast forests of varied hue and 
foliage, while clambering vines festooned the trees. 

Streams and lakes diversified this beautiful scene, 
the air was fragrant with the perfume of multitudes 
of wild flowers, song-birds of gay plumage gave life 
and music to the air, and beasts of the chase added 
variety to the prospect. As for the natives, they 
seemed gentle and friendly. A boat was sent out from 
the ship, and a sailor sprang overboard and swam to- 
wards the shore with beads and other presents for 
them. As he drew near, however, he became alarmed, 
flung his presents ashore, and started to swim back. 
But the surf flung him on the beach, where the natives 
seized him by arms and legs, answering his cries for 
help by wild yells. 

The poor fellow was now in a panic of fear. What 
would they do with him? His fear deepened into 
terror when he saw them gather wood and build a fire 
on the sand. Did they propose to roast and eat 
him? To his great relief and that of his friends on 
the ship, all they did was to bring him to the fire 
and dry him by its cheerful blaze, after which they led 
him back, embracing him with a warm show of affec- 
tion, and permitting him to return in safety to the 
boat. 



IN AMERICA 55 

It cannot be said that the mariners treated the na- 
tives with equal kindness and courtesy, for soon after 
they tried to carry off a beautiful young girl whom 
they found on the shore, offering tempting presents to 
lure her within their reach. But the frightened maiden 
flung their gifts angrily down and screamed so loudly 
that they thought it best to let her alone. A child 
who was with her was taken in her stead. 

Continuing his voyage northward, Verrazano put in 
at many inlets, one of which seems to have been the 
Bay of New York. Here he saw " a region commo- 
dious and delightful." Another stopping-point may 
have been Narragansett Bay. The country here was 
very pleasant, well watered, and with open plains. 
Fruit-trees abounded, and there were stately forests 
well filled with animals. The natives dwelt in houses 
of split logs, thatched with straw, and here two chiefs, 
dressed in their choicest finery, paid him a visit of 
ceremony. 

On reaching the northern coast of New England, 
he found the natives much less friendly than farther 
south. They were willing to trade, but would not let 
the Frenchmen set foot on land. The furs and food 
they had to exchange were let down by ropes from the 
rocks into the boats, and they insisted on being paid 
with fish hooks, knives, and other articles for each lot 
before lowering any more. Nor did they hesitate to 
express their feeling for the whites by insulting signs. 
In view of this Verrazano made up his mind that these 
poor savages had no sense of religion. Probably they 
had seen white men before and knew they were not 
to be trusted, for many fishermen, who had very little 
sense of religion, were now visiting those waters. 
Cabot's report of the vast shoals of codfish he had 
seen on the banks of Newfoundland had aroused the 



56 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

adventurous fishermen of Brittany and Normandy, 
many of whom soon began to seek these rich fishing 
grounds. Some of them discovered and named the 
island of Cape Breton, and as early as 1506 John Denys 
explored the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 

Verrazano continued his voyage to the latitude of 
50 N., and by his discoveries laid the foundation for 
the French claim to the lands and waters of the north. 
What became of him after his return we do not know. 
One account says that he was caught by the Spaniards 
in 1527 and hung as a pirate. Another says that in 
a second voyage to America he was roasted and eaten 
by the Indians. One of these stories is worth as much 
as the other, for both of them are very doubtful, and 
no one can say what became of the Florentine corsair 
and manner. 



IN AMERICA 57 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN AND THE CIR- 
CUMNAVIGATION OF THE GLOBE 

Columbus hoped to reach Asia by sailing westward, 
and during all his later life fancied that he had done 
so, believing that the shores he had reached were those 
of Asia. Many of those who followed him set out with 
the same idea and entertained the same fancy. But the 
great feat of reaching Asia by sailing to the west was re- 
served for a daring Portuguese sailor, Ferdinand Ma- 
gellan, who succeeded in this wonderful exploit in 
1 5 19. His work, in its way, was as great and its re- 
sults were as stupendous as those of the voyages of 
Columbus, and the story of his exploit stands high in 
the history of discovery and exploration. He gave to 
the knowledge of the world the vast breadth of that 
mighty western ocean upon which Balboa had gazed 
in wonder from a peak in Darien. 

Magellan was born in 1480 in one of the wildest 
mountain sections of Portugal. He grew to be a man 
of power and daring ; a man of fiery black eyes, great 
arching brows, firm lips, and powerful jaws, half hid- 
den by a shaggy beard. Yet with the face of a pirate 
or a conqueror, he was not harsh or cruel, being in- 
deed kind-hearted and generous, ready at any time to 
risk his life for the safety of another. Yet he was of 
massive strength and unconquerable will. 

In 1505 Magellan went to India, then the haven of 
adventurous Portuguese. Here he spent seven years 
in the service of the viceroys of Portugal, sailing 
about, touching on new shores, fighting with Arabs 
and Malays. In 1509 he fought like a hero in one of 



58 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

these encounters, in which a gang of Malays sought 
to capture four ships, trading for spices with Malacca. 
In 151 1 he was on a ship that was wrecked on a lonely 
island. While a shipload of Malay pirates were delving 
among the spoil, the ambushed Portuguese seized the 
pirate ship and sailed triumphantly away. 

Such was the type of Magellan's service in Indian 
waters. In 15 12 he returned to Portugal, and for a 
year or more was a soldier, righting with the Moors 
in Morocco, where he received a lance thrust in the 
knee that lamed him for life. After 15 14, Magellan 
had nothing special to do, and spent his time in the 
study of navigation. To the maps of the known world, 
as then existing, he gave close attention. What was 
the extent of the unknown world? What waters lay 
untraversed between the east and the west? Whither 
spread that great South Sea on which Balboa had 
gazed? He had left a warm friend, Captain Serrano, 
in the Moluccas, the spice islands of the Indian archi- 
pelago. Could he join this friend by sailing to the west 
instead of to the east ? Such are some of the questions 
which seem to have passed through Magellan's busy 
brain in those days of seeming idleness. 

Full of his scheme, like Columbus he first sought 
aid from the king of Portugal, and when this monarch 
would not listen to him went with his plans to Spain. 
Ferdinand and Isabella, the patrons of Columbus, had 
now passed away, and a boy king, Charles V., ruled 
the Spanish realm. The ardent Magellan found it easy 
to interest the young monarch. Men's ideas about the 
earth had expanded since those days when Columbus 
trudged wearily for years from court to court. The 
king ordered an expedition to be fitted out, and on 
September 20, 15 19, Magellan's little fleet, composed 
of five small ships, the largest being of one hundred 



IN AMERICA 59 

and twenty tons, spread its sails and stood out to 
sea. 

A sorry fleet it was, hardly as well fitted for its work 
as that of Columbus. The ships were all old, and 
well on the way towards being worn out. There were 
about two hundred and eighty men on board, a mot- 
ley crew, gathered from half of Europe, and including 
some negroes and Malays. As for the captains, there 
was only one that Magellan could trust. This was 
Juan Serrano, a brother of his friend, Captain Ser- 
rano, of the Moluccas. The others were not to be de- 
pended upon. 

In fact, when King Emmanuel of Portugal learned 
that the man whom he had refused had found a pa- 
tron in Spain, he determined that he should not suc- 
ceed. Ruffians were hired to lurk about Seville and 
stab him if an opportunity offered. Captains in the 
East Indies were ordered to intercept his fleet if it 
should reach those waters. His own officers seem to 
have been bought over. A caravel overtook the fleet, 
when it had been a few days at sea, with a message to 
Magellan from Barbosa, his wife's father, bidding him 
to be careful, for his captains had told their friends 
before sailing that if they had any trouble with him 
they would kill him. Magellan heard the news with 
an iron face, and sent word back that, true or false, 
he feared them not, and would do his work in spite 
of them. Thus with a crazy fleet, a motley crew, and 
faithless captains, Magellan set sail on the most stu- 
pendous of voyages that man had ever undertaken. 

What we know of the voyage comes chiefly from 
the journal of the Chevalier Pigafetta, who had joined 
the ships " to see the marvels of the ocean," and kept 
a strict account of what he saw. The weather did not 
favor the adventurers. From the Canary Islands they 



60 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

sailed down the African coast and ran into a calm in 
which they floated idly about for three weary weeks. 
Then storms struck them, and they had a month of 
fearful weather in which they hardly dared show a sail. 
Food and water grew scarce, rations were cut down, 
discontent broke out. Cartagena, one of the captains, 
came on board the flag-ship " Trinidad" one day with 
threats and insults for the admiral. To his conster- 
nation, Magellan collared him, put him in irons, and 
set another captain over his ship. He had been warned 
against his captains and was ready for them. 

They reached the coast of Brazil on November 29, 
and on January 11, 1520, came to the broad mouth of 
the La Plata River. No one knew then whether this 
great stream was a mere river or a strait leading to 
the vast South Sea. In those days, and long after, 
nearly every river was thought to be such a strait. 
Nearly a century later John Smith thought he might 
reach the western ocean by way of James River, and 
Henry Hudson by way of the stream that bears his 
name. No one dreamed of the true width of the great 
continent. Magellan spent three weeks in finding out 
that the La Plata was a river and not a strait. 

Convinced that there was somewhere such a strait, 
he sailed on southward, following the coast of Pata- 
gonia. Here fierce and constant storms tossed his 
ships, and the winter of the south came on with biting 
cold. Deeming it dangerous to go onward, on the 
last day of March, 1520, he anchored for winter-quar- 
ters in the harbor of Port St. Julian, where there was 
abundance of fish. On the next day, which chanced to 
be Easter Sunday, the long-growing mutiny broke out. 

Reasons for this were not wanting. Weeks of calm 
had been followed by months of storm. Food was 
growing very scarce. The strait sought for became 



IN AMERICA 61 

more and more mythical. Their old ships had been 
so strained by storm that they seemed unsafe to sail 
in. But Magellan would not listen to the thought of 
turning back. If no strait could be found, the conti- 
nent must somewhere have an end. He would go on 
until he sailed round it and found a way into the ocean 
of the west. Not that he was harsh in his language. 
He sought to persuade, appealed to their pride as 
Spaniards, spoke of the rich prizes that awaited them. 

But Magellan was of the true metal of great dis- 
coverers. He was inflexible in carrying out his pur- 
pose. Fear or doubt had no place in his strong soul. 
Discontent grew, and when the ships sought the har- 
bor of St. Julian to spend six weary months in the 
sharp chill of a southern winter, the patience of others 
besides the faithless captains gave way. The soil was 
fertile for a mutinous revolt. 

The blow was struck on Easter Sunday night. Cap- 
tain Quesada, of the " Conception," and Mendoza, of 
the " Victoria," with the deposed Captain Cartagena, 
who had been sent in irons on board the " Victoria,' * 
boarded the " San Antonio," Cartagena's late ship, 
with thirty men, seized the new captain, Mesquita, and 
put him in irons, and set one of their own men, Sebas- 
tian Elcano, in command. All this was done so quickly 
and quietly that nothing was known of it on board the 
flagship " Trinidad" till Monday morning dawned. 

The first news of the night's work came on Mon- 
day, when a boat from the " Trinidad" was ordered to 
keep away from the " San Antonio," whose officers 
said that they were no longer under Magellan's com- 
mand. When this news was brought to the admiral, 
his firm jaw took its iron set and his fiery eyes blazed 
out. He sent the boat off again to find out how far 
the conspiracy had spread. It came' back with word 



62 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

that only one ship remained loyal, the " Santiago," 
under Captain Serrano. 

Soon after a message came from Captain Quesada 
to the admiral. The mutinous captains wanted to hold 
a conference with their old commander. "You can have 
it," said Magellan. " Come on board the ' Trinidad,' 
and we will talk the matter over." That was more 
than they had any idea of doing ; they were too shrewd 
to put their heads in the lion's mouth. But Magellan 
was as little inclined to meet them on board the " San 
Antonio," as they wished him to do. 

So far the mutineers had had it all their own way. 
But they did not know the kind of man they had to 
deal with in Ferdinand Magellan. Bold and daring 
in nature, he was a man of action and expedients. 
Knowing that the crew of the " Victoria" was less mu- 
tinous than those of the other two ships, he lost no time 
in moving against this vessel. A boat was got ready, 
manned by a score of armed and trusty men, with Bar- 
bosa, his wife's brother, at their head. Holding this 
in readiness, another boat, in which was Espinosa, his 
algnazil, or constable, with five men, was sent to the 
" Victoria." Its captain, Mendoza, had no fear of this 
small party, and let it come on board. At once Espi- 
nosa served on him a formal notice to come to the 
flag-ship. His refusal was followed by a tragedy. 
Espinosa sprang upon him and plunged a dagger into 
his throat. As he dropped dead to the deck, Bar- 
bosa's boat dashed up, its men sprang on board with 
drawn cutlasses, and the crew, taken by surprise, at 
once surrendered. 

Magellan, by his promptness and decision, had won 
the odds in the game. With three ships under his con- 
trol he had the other two at an advantage. That 
night he opened fire on the " San Antonio," and sent 



IN AMERICA 63 

out strong parties, which boarded it on both sides at 
once, Quesada and his mutinous crew being captured. 
Seeing that the game was at an end, the captain of 
the " Conception" lost no time in surrendering, and 
thus, within twenty-four hours, the formidable mutiny, 
which had long been gathering and threatened to 
ruin the expedition, was completely quelled. As for its 
leaders, Magellan dealt severely with them. Quesada, 
their leading spirit, was beheaded. Cartagena and a 
priest named Pero Sanchez, his confederate, were 
kept in irons until the fleet sailed, and were then set on 
shore on the iron coast of Patagonia and left to their 
fate. After that stern lesson no one dared whisper 
mutiny on board the fleet. 

Time passed on, and the long winter neared its end. 
During its course one of the vessels, the " Santiago," 
was wrecked while out exploring, its men being 
rescued. Serrano, its captain, was given command of 
the " Concepcion." On August 24 the remaining ves- 
sels, which had been put in repair, once more set sail, 
the mariners bidding farewell to the giant Patago- 
nians, of whom they had seen much during the 
winter. 

Tempests still troubled them, and nearly two months 
passed before, sailing steadily southward, they 
rounded a headland and found themselves in a large 
open bay. Was this an opening to the strait they so 
long had sought? Some thought so; others doubted 
it ; but Magellan tested it by sailing inward. It proved 
to be a twisting and winding passage, here wide, there 
narrow, but everywhere the water was deep and salt, 
and they soon became sure that the strait at last was 
found. It was the labyrinthine passage between the 
mountainous coasts of Patagonia and Tierra del 
Fuego, now known as the Strait of Magellan, the 



64 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

only place in all the lands and seas he traversed that 
bears his name. 

A new question now arose. The strait they sought 
was found, but provisions were running very low. 
Had they not done enough? Would it not be best to 
return to Spain with the story of what they had 
discovered ? " No," answered Magellan, in quiet but 
resolute tones. " I will go on and finish my work if I 
have to eat the leather off the ship's yards." 

After that there was nothing to say, but the dis- 
contented had an answer of their own. There were 
many of them on the " San Antonio," and these seized 
the captain, Mesquita, put him in irons, chose a new 
captain, and set sail for Spain, Gomez, their pilot, navi- 
gating the ship. They reached there after six months, 
where they excused themselves by lying about Magel- 
lan. For his part he did not know what had become 
of them, and, on emerging from the strait into the 
open sea, he had a cross raised on the top of a high 
hill as a signal to the " San Antonio" if she should 
come that way. 

The voyagers were at length afloat on the waters 
they so long had desired to reach, the great ocean 
which Balboa had seen at the other extremity of South 
America and named the South Sea. So mild and 
pleasant did it appear to Magellan, in contrast with 
the fierce Atlantic storms they had encountered, that 
he named it the Pacific Ocean, the name it still bears. 

So much had been done, but more and worse lay 
before them. Hitherto much of their journey had been 
over known waters, now they were afloat on an ocean 
on which sail had never been set, and of whose vast- 
ness they did not dream. Had they known what lay 
before them even the iron-hearted Magellan might 
have turned back in dismay, But he headed north- 



IN AMERICA 65 

ward to escape the wintry chill, and sailed steadily 
into the vast unknown, while months and months 
passed by and still the waves heaved and rolled about 
them, and some of them began to think that mighty 
ocean had no end. 

It was in October that they sailed through the moun- 
tain-bordered strait. Nearly three months passed be- 
fore they saw land again, and then it was only a little 
islet in the unfathomable ocean. Eleven days more 
brought them to another rocky isle, where there was 
neither water nor food. They had already gone in the 
Pacific twice as far as Columbus sailed after he left 
the Canaries, and they would have utterly despaired 
if they had known that five thousand miles were to be 
passed before they would see land again. 

As they went on their sufferings were terrible. 
Their food was gone. Their water was unfit to drink. 
Magellan's words came true, they were forced to eat 
the leather off the ship's yards. This they dragged 
through the sea with ropes for several days to soften 
it. Scurvy attacked them, and many died. Others 
grew so weak with hunger that they could scarcely lift 
their hands. Fortunately, the ocean kept true to its 
name of Pacific, and no storm assailed them. There 
was nothing to do but to go on. To go back now 
would mean certain death. 

At length, on March 6, 1521, their eyes gladly gazed 
on land again, large and fertile islands, whose people 
proved such inveterate thieves that they named them 
the Ladrones, or robbers' islands. Here their dread- 
ful sufferings ended, for they found fruit and meat 
in plenty. Ten days later the three ships reached the 
islands now known as the Philippines, and the mighty 
work of circumnavigating the globe was practically at 
an end, for Magellan soon learned that he was not far 
5 



66 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

from the Moluccas, where he had left Captain Serrano 
years before. 

The great navigator had won undying fame, but he 
was near the end of his career. After his wonderful 
success, a desire to convert the people of these islands 
to Christianity led to his death. The king of the island 
of Cebu and his people were quite ready to burn their 
idols and to accept the white men's god, but when the 
king of Cebu called on the neighboring king of Matan 
to do him homage as a Christian, the pagan king re- 
fused. War broke out ; Magellan and his men were 
drawn into it; a fight took place on April 27, 1521, 
in which the Spaniards were driven to their boats by 
hosts of islanders, and Magellan, who fought bravely 
among the last, was hurled to the earth and thrust 
through with a dozen deadly weapons. Thus, in the 
effort to convert pagans by force of arms, the hero of 
two great oceans lost his life. 

We must briefly complete our tale. Of the two hun- 
dred and eighty men who had sailed from Spain nearly 
a year and a half before, only one hundred and fifteen 
now remained. Of their ships, the " Concepcion," 
being no longer seaworthy, was dismantled and 
burned. The " Trinidad" and " Victoria" were alone 
left, and in these the survivors sailed to the Moluccas, 
where they spent some time in trading. Here the 
" Trinidad" sprang a leak, and while she was being 
repaired the little " Victoria," with forty-seven men 
under Captain Elcano, set sail for home. It was now 
December 18. 

On May 16, 1522, she rounded the Cape of Good 
Hope, with scurvy and starvation thinning her crew, 
and her masts in bad condition. The equator was 
crossed on June 8. On July 13 some men who had 
landed at the Cape Verde Islands for food were seized 



IN AMERICA 67 

by the Portuguese, and the little ship had to make 
haste away. At last, on September 6, 1522, exactly 
thirty years after Columbus had sailed on his memo- 
rable cruise, the " Victoria" sailed into the Guadal- 
quivir, with eighteen half-starved survivors to tell of 
her victory over the great oceans of the earth. As for 
the " Trinidad," she never reached Europe again, and 
of her crew only Captain Espinosa and three men 
lived to set eyes once more on Spain. 

Thus ended the most remarkable ocean voyage ever 
undertaken. Fifty-five years passed before the earth 
was again circumnavigated, this time by Sir Francis 
Drake, but he sailed over comparatively known seas, 
and his exploit sinks into insignificance as compared 
with that of the intrepid Magellan, who plunged fear- 
lessly into the vast unknown. 

It is sad that he did not survive to wear the crest 
granted by the sovereign of Spain, a globe, round 
which ran the proud inscription, " Thou first encom- 
passed me." His wife and child were also dead, and 
the crest, with a pension, was granted to Elcano, cap- 
tain of the " Victoria," who had been one of the old 
mutineers. Espinosa, who did so much to quell the 
mutiny, was also made a noble of Spain and pensioned 
by the king. 



68 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 



FERDINAND CORTES AND THE CON- 
QUEST OF MEXICO 

While the Spaniards were settling the West India 
Islands, peopled by simple-minded natives, and ex- 
ploring the coast lands of South America, many of the 
inhabitants of which were warlike savages, they little 
dreamed that westward from Cuba lay a rich and popu- 
lous country with highly developed arts and customs 
and a civilization of its own. In 15 17 Francisco de 
Cordova touched on the shores of this land, and, to his 
surprise, saw well-clad people and large stone build- 
ings. Juan de Grijalva went there the next year. 
When he came back to Cuba, he brought startling 
news that stirred up the Spaniards as they had not 
been stirred since Columbus came back from his first 
voyage. 

They still had the idea that it was Asia that Co- 
lumbus had reached, and looked in vain for the rich 
island of Cipango and the great empire of Cathay, or 
China, of which Marco Polo had brought back such 
glowing accounts. But where were the riches and 
magnificence of the Orient for which their souls 
craved? They had found only forest-grown coun- 
tries, with rude villages instead of splendid cities, 
and half-naked savages instead of civilized peoples. 
It is not surprising that they grew hopeless and dis- 
contented, and that their hopes were kindled anew 
when Grijalva brought back news of a land profuse in 
gold and treasures and where a mighty king ruled 
over many cities and a great nation. This, they said, 
must be the Great Khan of Cathay ; this the land which 
Columbus had sought to reach. 



IN AMERICA 69 

Here was a haven of glory and gold. The tidings 
roused the Spanish cavaliers like the sound of a mar- 
tial trumpet. Velasquez, the governor of Cuba, at 
once determined to send out an expedition for the 
conquest of this glittering prize. Volunteers were 
many among the adventurous spirits swarming around 
him. The important thing was to find a commander 
suited for so great and perilous an enterprise. As it 
chanced the man was at hand, a man formed by nature 
to make one of the great captains of the world. His 
name was Hernando Cortes. 

Had he sought the world over, Velasquez could not 
have found a man better fitted for such an enterprise 
than the one whom fortune had placed at his right 
hand. In 1504 Cortes, an adventurous and ambitious 
young Spaniard, had come over seas to Hispaniola. 
In 151 1 he had helped Velasquez in the conquest of 
Cuba, and was now alcalde, or chief judge, of the new 
town of Santiago in that island. A genial, reckless, 
fun-loving fellow, as he had always seemed, he made 
friends wherever he went, getting into many scrapes 
by his wild pranks and getting out of them again by 
his bold daring. Such was the man who asked Velas- 
quez for the command of the expedition to Mexico, 
and to whom Velasquez granted it. 

No one, not even Cortes himself, knew the kind of 
man that Cortes really was. He had abilities not yet 
developed. He was the man to rise to the height of 
a great opportunity. Brave as Achilles, crafty and 
persistent as Ulysses, fertile in expedients, unscrupu- 
lous in action, coolest and readiest when danger was 
greatest, with the faculty of winning the loyalty and 
affection of his followers, the daring to face the most 
perilous situations, and the intuitive knowledge of the 
right thing to do at the moment of greatest peril, Her- 



70 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

nando Cortes was born to take rank with the great 
captains of the earth. 

He showed what was in him at the start. Velasquez 
grew afraid to trust him, and resolved to take the com- 
mand from his hands and put another man in his place. 
Cortes received his messages politely, but sailed away. 
He was not the man for a Spanish governor to play 
fast and loose with. 

The expedition he commanded consisted of ten ships 
manned by six hundred and seventeen men, under ex- 
perienced captains and well provided with weapons and 
munitions of war. He landed in Mexico on March 4, 
1 5 19, his ships, his artillery, his horses, the steel armor 
worn by himself and his men, their clothing, their com- 
plexion, all filling the Mexicans with awe and admira- 
tion. To them the new-comers seemed divine beings. 

Cortes quickly showed the metal of which he was 
made. Soon after landing he laid out a new town 
which he named Vera Cruz, framed a government, gave 
up his commission from Velasquez, and had the new 
government elect him captain-general of the expedition. 
Then he did the most daring thing of his life, — he had 
his ships scuttled and sunk. This was the act of a man 
who meant conquest or death; he had destroyed the 
means of return, and taught his men that all their hopes 
lay ahead, none lay behind. They stood on the shores 
of a populous and warlike kingdom which they must 
win or perish. It looked, indeed, as if only death lay 
before them, for the attempt to conquer an empire with 
such a force seemed the act of madness. The destruc- 
tion of the ships was one of those acts of desperate 
valor which only men of genius perform. 

It was a daring march which the band of Cortes 
made inward, — four hundred and fifty armed men in 
all, with six small cannon and fifteen horses. It was 



IN AMERICA 71 

the horses with steel-clad warriors on their backs that 
frightened the people far more than everything else. 
Terrible monsters they seemed, half man, half beast, 
from which the inhabitants fled in mortal terror. On 
and on went the Spaniards, Montezuma, the emperor 
of the Aztecs, sending messengers to stop them, but 
sending no soldiers to attack them. Gradually they 
climbed up from the coast lands to the upper level, 
seven thousand feet above sea level. The Aztecs 
seemed paralyzed by this steady invasion of their coun- 
try, and even let the Spaniards throw down their idols 
without raising a hand in their defence. 

The first active foes they found were the Tlascalans, 
a warlike tribe which the Aztecs had for years sought 
in vain to conquer. When the Spaniards marched 
into their territory the bold Tlascalans made a fierce 
attack upon them. They were armed with bows and 
arrows, lances, slings, and swords with sharp blades 
of obsidian, or lava glass. These weapons availed little 
against the steel swords, the muskets and cannons of 
the invaders, while the terrible horsemen swept 
through and through the native ranks, making havoc 
wherever they went. For two days the fight went on. 
By the end of that time a multitude of the brave Tlas- 
calans had fallen, and only one or two of the Span- 
iards had been slain. 

Then the Tlascalans planned a night attack, but 
Cortes was alert and discovered their plans, defeating 
the host waiting to fall on his camp. This dismayed 
the Tlascalans. They were now glad to make an 
alliance with these irresistible strangers, who fought 
them with thunder and lightning and terrible beasts. 
Cortes, by those few days of fighting, had made a 
remarkable gain. He had now for allies the most 
powerful enemies of the Aztecs. When he marched 



yz HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

forward again, he had with him a large body of 
the brave warriors of Tlascala, men who had al- 
ways held their own against Montezuma's strongest 
armies. 

On reaching Cholula, a strong Aztec town, the 
Spaniards were met by a delegation from the chiefs, 
who gave them a warm welcome. The Tlascalans 
were left outside, but the Spaniards were invited in 
and kindly entertained. There was nothing to show 
that this was a mere trap, that the chiefs of the town 
had laid a plot to destroy the unwelcome invaders, and 
had prepared a strong ambush to attack them un- 
awares. 

Cortes now faced one of the great perils of his life. 
Fortunately, he had with him a handsome young In- 
dian woman, who had fallen in love with him. Ma- 
lina, as she was named, was shrewd and quick-witted. 
She overheard the talk in the town, and discovered 
the whole conspiracy, which she reported to Cortes. 
The alert general lost no time. Cannon were placed 
during the night in readiness to sweep the streets. 
He invited the chiefs to visit him the next morn- 
ing and receive his farewell. They came, not dream- 
ing that their plot was exposed, and were thunder- 
struck when he told them they were his prisoners, and 
even picked out the most guilty of them. 

As they talked a fearful noise met their ears, never 
before heard in the streets of Cholula. It was the 
roar of the cannon, whose balls were ploughing lanes 
of death through the host of waiting warriors. At the 
same time the Tlascalan allies rushed into the town 
and cut down all they met. Hundreds, perhaps sev- 
eral thousands, were slain before the massacre ceased. 
A few of the captured chiefs were burned at the stake, 
to fill the minds of the others with terror. When the 



IN AMERICA 73 

Spaniards marched out of Cholula, the land before 
them lay in mortal dread. 

Past town after town they went in peace and safety 
until the great valley in which now lies the city of 
Mexico was reached. This populous valley was 
studded with cities and towns, and in its midst lay 
the Aztec capital, in the centre of a large lake, with 
narrow causeways connecting it with the main-land. It 
was a place that might have been defended against a 
hundred times their force if a soldier had sat on Mon- 
tezuma's throne. But weak and vacillating, not sure 
even yet that his visitors were mortal men, the scared 
monarch opened his capital to them and invited them 
into the central citadel of his kingdom. 

It was on November 8, 15 19, that Cortes and his 
men, with their Tlascalan allies, marched into the in- 
land city and took up their quarters in a great house 
set aside for them by the emperor. But they were not 
there a day before they saw their great danger. If 
Montezuma should grow hostile to them they would 
be like so many rats in a trap. How would they ever 
escape from this city in the heart of a lake, and with 
only narrow avenues leading to the land? 

The situation was one that it needed a man of gen- 
ius to meet. A decisive act, like that of the sinking 
of the ships at Vera Cruz, must be taken. The step 
taken by Cortes was one of extraordinary boldness. He 
seized Montezuma in the heart of his kingdom and 
held him prisoner. He had learned that the people 
looked upon their emperor as a god, and would take no 
step not commanded by him. With Montezuma in 
their hands the Spaniards were lords of the country. 

Meanwhile, Velasquez, the governor of Cuba, was 
taking steps to punish Cortes for disobeying his or- 
ders. He sent an expedition of eighteen ships and 



74 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

twelve hundred soldiers to Vera Cruz to arrest the 
rebel and bring him back. Cortes was not dismayed. 
Leaving Alvarado, one of his captains, with one hun- 
dred and fifty men, in the Aztec capital, he marched 
with three hundred men to the coast, defeated Nar- 
vaez by a night attack, told his men that wealth 
awaited them in Mexico, and marched back with an 
army more than four times as strong as that with 
which he had come. 

But meanwhile Alvarado was making mischief. 
Fearful of being attacked by the Aztecs, he fell upon 
them during a day of festival, and killed about six 
hundred of them, many of their chiefs being slain. 
This useless and cruel massacre maddened the peo- 
ple, and when Cortes entered the city he found them 
wild with rage. They called a council, elected Monte- 
zuma's brother emperor in his place, and attacked the 
Spaniards with a mighty host of warriors. A fright- 
ful battle took place, in which the streets ran red with 
blood. 

Cortes, not knowing that a new emperor had been 
elected, brought Montezuma to the roof of their 
stronghold and bade him quiet the people. The at- 
tempt was fatal to the poor Indian. Darts and stones 
were hurled at him by the people, and one of these 
inflicted a fatal wound. He died after a few days 
of suffering. 

Cortes had returned to the city on June 24. On 
July 1, the day after Montezuma's death, knowing that 
his men would be blockaded and starved if they re- 
mained, he led them from their stronghold and sought 
to leave the city. 

It was late at night. The city lay quiet. All seemed 
lost in slumber. There was no hindrance to the march 
of the Spaniards until they reached one of the great 



IN AMERICA 75 

causeways leading from the city. Then the capital 
seemed suddenly to awake. The huge drums of the 
priests beat loudly from the temple heights. Armed 
men swarmed from every lane and street. Other hosts 
appeared on the lake in canoes and attacked their ene- 
mies on the narrow road. The drawbridges that 
crossed the causeway had been removed, leaving wide 
gaps of water to be crossed. Rarely has there been 
a fiercer conflict or a more terrible night. It is still 
known in history as la noche triste, the night of sad- 
ness. 

When the firm land was reached, of the twelve hun- 
dred and fifty Spaniards only five hundred remained; 
of six thousand Tlascalans four thousand had perished ; 
the eighty horses had been reduced to twenty. The 
cannon were all gone, and forty Spaniards remained 
alive in Aztec hands to be sacrificed to their terrible 
god of war. Cortes seated himself on a rock, buried 
his face in his hands, and shed bitter tears. 

All seemed at an end. The only hope remaining 
to the Spanish leader was to reach Tlascala and seek 
for aid from his allies. But to reach there it was neces- 
sary to pass through the valley of Otumba, and this 
was found to be filled from side to side with furious 
foes. Thousands upon thousands faced the few hun- 
dreds of the Spaniards. There was only one thing to 
do ; they must cut their way through this mighty mul- 
titude or die. Die they would surely have done had 
not Cortes beheld the great standard of the Aztecs, 
cut his way through the dense throng surrounding it, 
seized it, and hurled it to the ground. On seeing it fall 
the Aztec host broke and fled in terror, and once more 
Cortes and his men were safe. 

In the six months that followed, Cortes worked like 
a hero. He gained many allies among the tribes, most 



y6 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

of whom hated the Aztecs. His great victory at 
Otumba had made them think him invincible. He 
sent some of the ships of Narvaez to Hispaniola for 
men, horses, and cannon, and gathered a force of 
nearly a thousand well-armed men, eighty-six horses, 
and a dozen cannon. He was ready to return. 

On Christmas Day of 1520 the march back began, 
Cortes being as determined as ever to conquer the 
Aztec kingdom, and win Mexico for Spain. With 
him were several thousand Indian warriors. As he 
neared the doomed city, the Tezcucans, a powerful 
tribe in alliance with the Aztecs, turned upon their 
old friends and joined Cortes. A fleet of brigantines 
was built and launched upon the lake. He was not 
going to trust again to the causeways without support. 

The siege that followed was long and bitterly con- 
tested. The Aztecs were noted for their desperate 
courage, and they now had a new leader, Guatemotzin, 
a brave and able soldier. The fighting was incessant 
and terrible. Step by step the besiegers fought their 
way inward. Food failed the people, their city being 
now hemmed in by foes, but they fought on through 
hunger and thirst, death and ruin, until there was 
scarcely a man left to fight. At length, on August 13, 
1 52 1, the terrible contest came to an end, and what 
was left of the capital of the Aztec kingdom lay in the 
hands of Spain. 

Cortes had conquered where perhaps not another 
man then living in Spain could have succeeded. To 
win a great and populous empire with a handful of 
men demanded remarkable qualities, and Hernando 
Cortes possessed these qualities. In view of the sur- 
prising character of his conquest, he deserves to rank 
among the greatest conquerors of the world. 



IN AMERICA 77 



FRANCISCO PIZARRO AND THE LAND 
OF THE INCAS 

In the story of Balboa mention was made of a won- 
derful land of gold, of which the Indians had told 
him. It lay somewhere on the shores of the great 
South Sea he had gazed upon, and he was preparing 
to set sail for this realm of marvel when the cruel and 
treacherous Davila put him to death. For seven years 
afterwards nothing more was done. The golden king- 
dom was suffered to rest in peace in the heart of the 
unknown seas. But during this time the rich Aztec 
empire had been invaded and conquered, and the dar- 
ing warriors of Spain began to dream of new worlds 
to win. The leader who now came forward was Fran- 
cisco Pizarro, a comrade of Balboa in his great adven- 
ture, and a man well fitted for the enterprise. 

Pizarro came from the same part of Spain that had 
given birth to Cortes and Balboa. He had been a 
swineherd in his youth, and had no education, never 
learning even to write his own name. But he was 
bold and ambitious, and in time sought the New 
World, where he took part in various daring and peril- 
ous expeditions. He was cruel and unscrupulous, a 
very different man from either Balboa and Cortes, 
but he was brave, unyielding, and enterprising, and 
fortune came to his aid. 

By 1524, Davila, the murderer of Balboa, had 
crossed the isthmus and built the city of Panama on 
its western shores. This was the point of departure 
of the new expedition, in which Pizarro was associ- 
ated with two of his friends, by name Almagro and 



78 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

Luque. Governor Davila consented to the enterprise, 
and the three friends prepared to invade the land of 
gold. 

The first expedition, sent out in 1524, got as far 
as the San Juan River, not one-third of the way, and 
then turned back, battered and worn. A second expe- 
dition set sail in 1526, which also reached the San 
Juan. From here Almagro was sent back for men and 
provisions, and when he reached the San Juan again 
he found Pizarro and his followers nearly dead with 
hunger. Yet they sailed onward, this time coming 
nearly to the equator, and landing on the miserable little 
island of Gallo. Pizarro waited here while Almagro 
once more went back to Panama for help. 

As may be seen, there was plenty of staying power 
in Francisco Pizarro. There was no food on the island 
of Gallo. For weeks the fierce tropical rains poured 
down on the heads of the miserable adventurers. 
When at length a ship came to their rescue, it proved 
to be one sent by the governor to bring back Pizarro 
and his men. The governor had not permitted Al- 
magro to return, and thought it time to put an end 
to the whole mad business. 

But he reckoned without Francisco Pizarro. Most 
of his men, worn and weary, were glad of the chance 
to return, but their resolute commander had set his 
face forward and was bent on going ahead. Drawing 
his long sword, he traced a line on the sandy beach. 
" Ease and safety lie north of that line," he said ; 
" gold and glory lie south. Choose which side you 
will ; for me I choose the south." 

He stepped across the line. Sixteen determined fel- 
lows followed him. The rest chose the north, and 
sailed away, leaving Pizarro and his bold sixteen to 
face the horrors of the desolate isle. But they soon 



IN AMERICA 79 

built a raft, and paddled to the neighboring island 
of Gorgona, where they lived on shell-fish and such 
birds as they could shoot. And here they waited for 
seven long months before another ship came to their 
aid. Desperate, indeed, their road to fortune must 
now have seemed. 

But their faces were still set forward. No suffering 
could wear out Pizarro's stern resolve. Taking the 
little vessel sent them, they sailed on down the coast 
and soon found themselves in new scenes and on the 
borders of the Inca's empire. In time they came to 
a large city of the coast, rilled with busy people, and 
presenting astonishing signs of wealth and civilization. 
From Tumbez, as this place was called, they coasted 
onward for several hundred miles, beholding every- 
where indications of a rich and settled kingdom. Pi- 
zarro had seen enough. To invade this great realm 
men and arms were necessary. He returned to Pan- 
ama, bringing vases of gold and silver and other evi- 
dences of the wealth and arts of the land. And from 
Panama he went to Spain, to show these rich objects 
and obtain the favor of the king. 

It was in the spring of 1532 that Pizarro reached 
Tumbez again. He had with him now about two 
hundred men and fifty horses. With the party were 
his four brothers, whom he had brought from Spain. 
Later on, Fernando de Soto joined him with one hun- 
dred men and some more horses. At Tumbez they 
remained, having various adventures, until September, 
1532, when the fateful inward march began. Pizarro 
took with him on this journey about two-thirds of his 
men, leaving the others in a fort he had built on the 
coast. It was an enterprise of remarkable daring, more 
dangerous in its way than that of Cortes, for this was 
not a country of many tribes among whom they could 



80 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

look for allies. Here all the people were faithful sub- 
jects of the Inca, and the newcomers would have to 
depend on their own good swords. 

Yet fortune aided the invaders. A civil war had 
lately been raging in the land between Huascar, the 
rightful Inca, and his half-brother, Atahualpa, who 
had no just claim to the throne. But Atahualpa won, 
capturing Huascar and entering the capital city of 
Cuzco in triumph. This had hardly been done when 
strange tidings were brought to the new monarch. 
White and bearded strangers, clad in shining armor 
and riding on monstrous animals, had come into Peru 
from the sea, and were marching inward, bringing 
with them great black tubes filled with thunder and 
lightning. Wherever they went the people looked on 
them with wonder and terror. The roar of the can- 
non filled them with utter dismay. Mysterious beings 
they were, with the power of the gods in their hands. 
Their leader must be the son of Viracocha, the great 
god of Peru, the deity who wielded the thunder of the 
clouds. 

When Atahualpa heard of these wonderful strangers 
he thought it wise to win their good will, and sent 
to them his brother, with presents and words of wel- 
come. When Titu, the envoy, reached them they were 
already at the foot of the great mountain-range of the 
Andes, which they must cross to reach the main seat 
of the Inca's power. Atahualpa was now at Caxa- 
marca, on the opposite side of the mountains, and 
thither Pizarro made his way, with toil and danger, 
across the mighty hills, reaching that place on No- 
vember 15, 1532. 

Caxamarca was a small town of about two thou- 
sand inhabitants. In its centre was a broad, open 
square, and around this stood large stone buildings, 



IN AMERICA 81 

in which the Spaniards were given quarters by order 
of the Inca. Atahualpa and his army lay encamped 
about two miles away, the warriors wearing quilted 
doublets of cotton, carrying shields of stiff hide, and 
armed with bows, slings, lances, and war-clubs, with 
lassoes, in whose use they were well skilled. 

The Spaniards had much reason to feel anxious. 
With the mountain-range behind them, the army of 
Peru before them, they were in as dangerous a trap, 
if the Inca should prove hostile, as Cortes had been 
in the water-locked city of Mexico. They had put 
their heads in the lion's jaws, and dare not withdraw. 
The situation was critical. Only judgment, prompt 
decision, and the boldest daring could save them if the 
friendly spoken Inca should cherish hostile intentions. 

Fear or distrust must not be shown. On the very 
afternoon of their arrival a band of horsemen, led by 
De Soto and Fernando Pizarro, a brother of their 
leader, visited the Inca at his camp and invited him to 
a conference with their commander the next day in the 
market-place of Caxamarca. A circle of chiefs sur- 
rounded Atahualpa, and they gazed with astounded 
eyes as the skilled De Soto forced his trained horse 
to wheel and prance about in swift evolutions, in which 
the man seemed part of the steed. 

Probably it was superstitious dread and bewildered 
feeling that induced the Inca to promise a visit to these 
wonderful strangers. Perhaps he hoped to enlist their 
aid in his wars. Certainly he did not dream of any 
peril in visiting their camp. But the Spaniards were 
in a situation in which they felt that no half measures 
would avail. They remembered the striking act of 
Cortes in making Montezuma his prisoner, and Pi- 
zarro felt that his only hope lay in following this 
example. The Inca once in his hands, he might com- 
6 



82 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

mand the Peruvians as Cortes had commanded the 
Mexicans. 

But Pizarro had none of the craft and subtlety of 
Cortes. What the latter did by the arts of diplomacy, 
Pizarro planned to do by brutal force, and all that 
night was spent in preparation for the treacherous 
deed. When the Inca entered the town the next day, 
in the midst of a strong escort of troops, the only man 
ready to meet him was a cowled priest, who talked a 
long time in a language the Inca could not understand, 
and in the end handed him a Bible, which the monarch, 
angry at the seeming discourtesy, flung disdainfully 
to the ground. 

A moment later the Spanish war-cry, " Santiago," 
was heard, and from every doorway armed men poured 
out, falling in fury upon the escort of the Inca and 
cutting the helpless and astounded men down by hun- 
dreds. As for Atahualpa, he was seized and hurried 
into the Spanish barracks, where he found himself a 
prisoner in Pizarro's hands. 

Daring and desperate as was the scheme, its suc- 
cess was extraordinary. The army, reft of its leader, 
was dismayed. The people, to whom their Inca was 
far more than a mere man, were helpless. Not a hand 
was raised against the terrible strangers, and for a 
time the whole country lay like a fettered captive at 
their feet. There was no hostility, no assault, as in 
the case of Cortes. So paralyzed were the people that 
Fernando Pizarro, with twenty horsemen and a few 
musketeers, made a journey of four hundred miles 
to the famous temple of Pachacamac, destroyed its 
idol, and carried off its golden ornaments without a 
hand being raised against them. 

Pizarro treated his captive with politeness and kind- 
ness, but took the best of care that he should not es- 



IN AMERICA 83 

cape. The Inca, surprised to see how eager the Span- 
iards were for gold, fancied that he might buy his 
freedom, and one day made an extraordinary offer. 
He promised to fill the room in which he stood — a 
room twenty-two feet long by seventeen wide — with 
gold up to a line on the walls as high as he could reach, 
if they would set him free. 

This unparalleled offer astounded the Spaniards. 
Such a ransom had never been dreamed of in all the 
history of the world. The invaders heard the offer 
with gasping astonishment, and Pizarro hastily ac- 
cepted it. Only a man to whom gold was useless 
dross could have done less. 

Atahualpa at once sent messengers far and wide, 
and soon the gold began to arrive. His word was to 
the people a sacred command. Much of the gold was 
in the form of vases and ornaments of which the 
temples were stripped. Yet the distances were great, 
and the sum of gold to be gathered was immense. 
Some of the priests hid the gold of their temples and 
would not send it. Months passed, and by June, 1533, 
the vast bulk was not yet complete. But the covetous 
Spaniards, eager to share the yellow spoil, would not 
wait longer, and the great sum, said to have been 
worth more than fifteen million dollars in our money, 
and, in addition, a vast store of silver, was divided 
between the conquerors. Every man got his share, 
and Fernando Pizarro was sent to Spain with the 
share of the king. 

When he arrived there and told the story of the 
marvellous ransom, and showed in evidence the treas- 
ure he had brought, it was to the people of Spain as 
if Aladdin's magical lamp had been rubbed and the 
gnomes of the underworld had brought up their golden 
spoil. Eagerness to share in this wonderful wealth ran 



84 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

from end to end of the land, and the adventurous sons 
of Spain began again to flock in multitudes to the 
New World, Golden Peru being now their goal. 
Francisco Pizarro was created a marquis and made 
governor of the new realm, while his partner, Alma- 
gro, was placed over the country to the south, the land 
we now call Chile. 

But before this was done important events had 
taken place in Peru. Huascar, the imprisoned Inca, 
hearing of Atahualpa's ransom, offered the Spaniards 
a greater treasure still if they would set him free and 
support him against his rival. Soon after this Huas- 
car was secretly murdered in his cell. The Spaniards 
blamed Atahualpa for this, and they professed to be- 
lieve that he was also sending out secret instructions 
to his chieftains, bidding them to rise against the 
insolent strangers. 

All this gave Pizarro the excuse he wanted to break 
faith with the Inca. Though the ransom had been 
paid, he dared not set his captive free, fearing that 
he would rouse the country in arms against him. The 
least excuse sufficed. The unfortunate Inca was put 
on trial before a court of his foes, on the charges of 
conspiring against the whites, murdering his brother, 
and the practice of idolatry and polygamy. Pizarro 
was determined on his death, and the unhappy pris- 
oner was convicted and sentenced to the dreadful 
fate of being burned at the stake. As he consented to 
receive baptism his sentence was changed, and on 
August 29, two months after paying his enormous 
ransom, the Inca, Atahualpa, was put to death by 
strangling in the public square of Caxamarca. 

With this act of shameless treachery we might con- 
clude the story of the conquest of Peru, but there are 
events of importance still to narrate. The death of 



IN AMERICA 8$ 

Atahualpa was followed by a show of hostilities among 
the Peruvians, but when Pizarro proclaimed Manco, 
the next in line of succession after Huascar, as Inca, 
and Manco came into the Spanish camp and made for- 
mal submission to the strangers, Pizarro's triumph 
seemed complete. He was lord of the land which lay 
prostrate before his feet. Spaniards were hurrying to 
the country, and his force constantly increased. In 
1535, that he might have a seat of government near 
the coast, he founded the city of Lima, which he made 
his capital, leaving his brother Fernando in command 
at Cuzco. 

He did not know the new Inca. A true patriot, 
Manco's submission was made merely to gain time. 
Under cover of it he planned an insurrection, and 
when the proper moment arrived he escaped from 
Cuzco and joined the patriot chiefs. Suddenly re- 
bellion broke out on all sides. Cuzco was surrounded 
by a vast host of dusky warriors, communication with 
Lima was cut off, and for six months the old Inca 
capital was fiercely besieged. Manco seized a great 
fortress overlooking the city, on which vigorous as- 
saults were made, the little band of Spaniards within 
the walls having to defend themselves against terrible 
odds. But they held their own with desperate valor, 
and finally succeeded in taking the fortress of the Inca 
by storm. 

Fear of famine at length broke up the Inca's army. 
It was the planting season, and many of his men had 
to go home and attend to their farms, lest starvation 
should come upon the land. Manco retired with the 
remainder of his army to the valley of Yucay, and here 
he met Almagro, who was returning from his invasion 
of Chile. A battle followed in which the Peruvians 
were badly beaten, and from that time forward the 



86 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

Spaniards had little trouble with the people of the 
land. 

But they had fighting enough among themselves. 
Almagro, who felt that he had been badly treated, 
was incensed against Pizarro, and war broke out be- 
tween the two Spanish leaders. It ended, after sev- 
eral battles, in the defeat and execution of Almagro 
by Fernando Pizarro. 

This was in 1538. Almagro was gone, but many 
of the " men of Chile," as his followers were called, re- 
mained. Pizarro might have won these over by a 
show of generosity, but he made bitter foes of them 
by treating them with harsh severity. As a result a 
conspiracy was formed against his life, and on Sun- 
day, June 26, 1 541, a band of the conspirators broke 
into the governor's palace and killed him after he had 
slain several of them in his desperate struggle for 
life. Thus perished the conqueror of Peru after one of 
the most remarkable and successful careers that human 
being has ever had. 



IN AMERICA 87 



CABEZA DE VACA AND HIS CAREER 
OF ADVENTURE 

It may seem strange to many readers that the ad- 
venturous people of Spain, who sent so many expedi- 
ditions across the sea while the other nations rarely 
sent out a ship, made no settlement for many years 
within the limits of the United States. The islands 
first reached by Columbus were not far distant from 
the coast of this country, the West India Islands which 
they thickly settled lay not far to the south, yet it 
was not till 1565 that their first settlement in this coun- 
try, that of St. Augustine in Florida, was made. 

If we seek for a cause of this we may find it in the 
persistent hostility of the Indians. Here were no mild 
and submissive natives like those of the southern isles, 
and here were no empires rich in gold to give birth 
to the enterprise of a Cortes or a Pizarro. There 
were only poor and scattered tribes, inveterately war- 
like and hostile, and with no treasures worth the win- 
ning. 

This is what Ponce de Leon found, and it was the 
experience of those who followed him. Various ships 
touched on the Floridian shores, but no colony was 
there founded. Chief among the explorers of the 
northern coast were Francisco de Garay, who in 15 19 
sailed along and mapped the Gulf coast from Florida 
westward, — the mouth of the Mississippi River being 
marked on his map, — and Vasquez de Ayllon, who in 
1520 sailed up the Atlantic coast and tried to make a 
settlement which is thought to have been on the James 



88 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

River in Virginia, near the later site of Jamestown. 
We may name also Stephen Gomez, the pilot of the 
ship that deserted Magellan in the strait that bears his 
name, and who in 1525 sailed along the North Ameri- 
can coast, putting into the bays of New England and 
the Hudson. But there were two whose explorations 
were of far more importance, De Narvaez and De 
Soto, the adventures of each of whom are worthy of a 
detailed account. 

Pamphilo de Narvaez was a man whom we can 
credit with neither virtue nor ability, yet he obtained 
from Charles V. of Spain the privilege of subduing 
and settling — if he could — the country of Florida from 
the Atlantic back to the Palmas River. It was Nar- 
vaez who was sent by the governor of Cuba to take 
Cortes prisoner, and who managed so badly that 
Cortes took him prisoner instead. He lost one eye in 
this affair, but the other eye led him into a more dan- 
gerous adventure still. 

Narvaez was rich, but like many of his kind he 
craved gold still, and was willing to squander what he 
had in pursuit of more. He found many others as cov- 
etous and as adventurous as himself, and in June, 1527, 
set sail from Spain with an expedition in which were 
men of good estate, some of them noblemen's sons. 
During that year he spent his time in the West Indies, 
sailing along the south coast of Cuba, touching at 
port after port. But in the spring of 1528, while head- 
ing for Havana, he was blown out of his course and 
up the west coast of Florida, where he put into Tampa 
Bay on April 14. With him, as treasurer of the ex- 
pedition, came Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, the man 
whose name heads this story, since in it he is a far 
more important character than Narvaez, its incompe- 
tent leader. 



IN AMERICA 89 

The governor of Florida, as the king had named 
Narvaez, landed two days after reaching Tampa Bay 
and took possession of the province in the name of 
Spain. This was an easy thing to do, needing only a 
little empty ceremony, but to take possession of it in 
reality was a different matter, as Ponce de Leon had 
found and as Pamphilo de Narvaez was soon to find. 
He had two enemies to deal with, wild nature and the 
equally wild natives. Many of these watched the un- 
welcome Spaniards as they hoisted their flag, hoping 
to see them take to their ships and depart. But 
some of the Indians had shown the visitors sam- 
ples of gold, with gestures which seemed to mean that 
this yellow metal came from the north. The sight of 
gold acted like a magnet on the Spaniards ; there was 
no getting rid of them when they had once caught its 
yellow gleam. 

Narvaez prepared to leave his ships and strike into 
the country, giving orders to have them taken to a 
harbor which the pilot pretended to be familiar with. 
Against this action Cabeza de Vaca made an earnest 
protest, distrusting either the pilot or the leader; but 
all he could say had no effect, and on the 1st of May 
the explorers, three hundred in number, forty of them 
mounted, left the coast and struck into the utterly un- 
known land. What became of the ships we are not 
told. 

The wanderers, as they advanced into that low-lying 
and swamp-covered country, a soil of sand and lime, 
a land without hills, yet with ever-flowing streams and 
deep morasses, were attracted by frequent scenes of 
rural beauty. Here were groves of the graceful pal- 
metto, the lofty pine, cypress, and sweet gum. Of 
choice beauty were the broad-leaved, shining magno- 
lias. Many trees met their eyes of surprising height; 



9 o HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

others, the moss-fringed live oaks, were of such 
mighty girth as seemingly to defy the axe. 

Birds of splendid plumage, and others humbler in 
attire but of delightful song, haunted these groves, and 
under the fragrant shade were seen many animals, all 
of them new and strange to the eyes of the adven- 
turers. Among the larger were the bear, deer of 
varied kinds, and the panther, which they thought 
to be the lion. But it was wild nature all, diver- 
sified by no towns rich and populous, yielding no 
trace of the yellow evil that lured them on. 

Rivers crossed their path, which they were fain to 
cross on rafts, or by swimming. Food grew so scarce 
that a field of green maize which they met seemed a 
gift from God to save them from death by hunger. 
The middle of June had passed when they came to the 
broad and deep Suwanee River, a swift stream, which 
obliged them to halt and build a large canoe to carry 
them across. At length their weary footsteps led them 
to the Indian settlement of Appalachee, which in the 
native stories had grown into a large and populous 
town, and where they hoped to find food and gold. 
To their bitter disappointment they saw before them 
a village of some forty wretched huts. 

The adventurers were fast falling into a deplora- 
ble condition. Nowhere had they found a trace of the 
rich country which they sought. Food grew scarce 
and at times failed them utterly. The natives were 
everywhere hostile and, skilled in archery and the arts 
of ambush, greatly harassed the invading foe. Re- 
maining for nearly a month at Appalachee, they 
searched for gold and silver through the country 
round, but found little beyond active enemies, while 
food grew daily more difficult to obtain. 

At length, worn out by the incessant and fierce at- 



IN AMERICA 91 

tacks of the warlike tribes and weakened by famine, 
they started despairingly in search of the sea, wander- 
ing through the forest and wading streams and deep 
lagoons until they reached the Gulf shore at a harbor 
which they called the Baia de Caballos. It is now 
known as St. Mark's. 

Here it was that they hoped to find the ships, but 
no trace of them could be seen. As De Vaca feared, 
their pilot had failed them. There was but one way by 
which they could escape from that inhospitable coast, 
they must build boats and take to the sea. For food 
they had the remainder of their horses and a large 
quantity of maize of which they had robbed the 
Indian granaries; and, sustaining themselves on this, 
they worked eagerly at their impromptu trade of boat- 
building. Their stirrups, spurs, the iron of their cross- 
bows, were forged into axes, saws, and nails, palmetto 
films served for oakum, the neighboring pines fur- 
nished pitch, and the work went on with fair speed. 

In sixteen days five large boats, each over thirty 
feet in length, were finished and launched. Horse- 
hair ropes were twisted for rigging, their shirts were 
pieced together to serve as sails, oars were cut from 
felled saplings, and for water bottles they used the 
skins stripped unbroken from the lower legs of their 
horses. Then, on September 22, the survivors of the 
expedition, some two hundred and fifty in all, em- 
barked and set sail. The effort to take possession of 
Florida was at an end. 

We have hitherto said little about Cabeza de Vaca, 
who will be the hero of the remainder of this tale, 
and who, with a few companions, went through a 
series of surprising adventures before reaching the 
domains of civilization again. His career of adven- 
ture began when he was made captain of one of the 



92 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

boats, a task for which he was ill fitted, since in the 
whole party there was not a man who knew the art 
of navigation. 

Even had they been skilled mariners their task 
would have been difficult, for the boats were so over- 
crowded as to be in imminent danger, sinking so low 
that the water almost flowed over their sides. Thus 
sunken, they were entirely unfit for stormy weather. 
Along the shallow waters of the shore they crept for 
a week or more, when the crowding was somewhat re- 
lieved by some Indian canoes, which Cabeza found and 
added to their flotilla. 

Onward they went, for a full month longer, suffer- 
ing much from want of food and water and the perils 
of the way. They rarely dared venture on shore, 
where the hostile savages stood on guard ; nor was it 
safe to lose sight of the land, without pilot or mariner 
on board. In the early evening of the 30th of Octo- 
ber Cabeza, who led the van, found that he was in a 
broad current of fresh water, which came sweeping 
strongly out from the land, teaching him that they 
were in the mouth of a " very great river." It was 
the Mississippi, whose waters De Garay had seen nine 
years before and had named the river of the Holy 
Spirit. 

The adventurers made an earnest effort to enter 
this great stream, in search of fuel to parch their 
corn, but the wind came from the north and the cur- 
rent was strong, and in the attempt the boats became 
separated and scattered along the coast. Narvaez kept 
close to the land, but Cabeza put boldly out to sea, 
leaving him behind and following another boat com- 
manded by Alonso de Castillo. The winds now helped 
them, and for four days they went rapidly westward 
by aid of oars and sails. Then a storm from the east 



IN AMERICA 93 

struck the frail boat and drove it relentlessly forward 
for a day and a night, and early on the following 
morning swept it through the boiling surf and on the 
sands of an island which Cabeza named the Isle of 
Misfortune. From his account of this it seems to have 
been the island of Galveston, on which the busy sea- 
port of Texas now stands. 

There were Indians on the shore who howled on 
seeing the shipwreck, and howled louder still on seeing 
the boat, which the men pulled off the sands, upset in 
the surf. All was lost, even their clothing, which they 
had removed in their effort to save their boat. But 
fortunately for them the Indians proved friendly, their 
howls being cries of sympathy instead of hostility. 
They built fires to warm the shivering men, gave them 
food and shelter, and did all they could to soften their 
misfortune. 

The boat of Castillo was wrecked a little farther 
up the coast, and he and his men also escaped with 
their lives. As for the remaining boats, their fate is 
unknown. Reports about them reached Cabeza at a 
later date to the effect that one of them foundered 
at sea, two ran ashore, the men who landed dying from 
hunger, while the boat of Narvaez was driven to sea 
again, and doubtless went down in the raging waves. 
Destiny had proved too strong for the covetous Span- 
ish adventurer. 

Cold and want and mutual suffering gradually had 
their effect on the men of Cabeza and Castillo. One 
by one they died until only four of the whole ex- 
pedition remained alive, these being Cabeza, Castillo, 
Dorantes, a companion of the latter, and a negro 
named Estevanico, or Stephen, who was to play an in- 
teresting part in Mexico at a later date. And these 
survivors were in a deplorable state, cast half-naked 



94 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

on a strange shore, all their possessions gone, them- 
selves in the hands of savages of uncertain mood. 
Though friendly now, at any moment they might be- 
come their enemies. 

The story of these four men is a remarkable one. 
For nearly six years they remained captives in the In- 
dians' hands, and afterwards they wandered through 
the land from tribe to tribe. But through it all they 
bore up bravely against their misfortunes, and finally 
reached safety after crossing the continent on foot 
from sea to sea, the first men who accomplished this 
stupendous feat. 

The leading spirit among them was the heroic Ca- 
beza de Vaca, a man who held his own against all 
the ill strokes of fate or fortune, was ready to meet 
every perilous contingency, studied the habits and 
languages of the Indians, imitated them in their modes 
of life, and won fame among them as a medicine man 
of magical powers. We owe to his pen an accurate 
and complete account of the country he traversed and 
the tale of his adventures, one embellished with more 
amazing incidents than any other story of the pioneer 
sons of Spain. Earliest of the pathfinders of America, 
inspiring his often despairing companions with his 
own unflinching fortitude, this hero of the wilds led 
the way to safety through perils that would have dis- 
mayed any less resolute man. 

Their progress from tribe to tribe was full of 
thrilling adventures. During the time they were held 
as slaves their captors kept them in the most abject 
bondage, on many days putting arrows to their breasts 
in the evening as a threat that they would kill them in 
the morning. After their escape from these they met 
with tribes that looked upon their white visitors as 
messengers from heaven, or sorcerers possessed of 



IN AMERICA 95 

magical powers. Some brought out their food that 
these inspired visitants might breathe upon it before 
they ate it, others laid before them their choicest pos- 
sessions and begged them to accept the best of these, 
while in some cases thousands of them accompanied 
the wandering whites as guests of honor. 

Cabeza and his comrades did much to gain this 
credit of divine powers with the savages by acting as 
doctors or medicine men, working wonderful cures by 
repeating the pater-noster or making the sign of the 
cross. They made their way onward also by peddling 
little articles from tribe to tribe, and thus gaining shel- 
ter and support. Separated and held prisoners by dif- 
ferent tribes, they came together again at some point 
west of the Sabine River, and from this place grad- 
ually made their way towards the Spanish settlement 
on the Pacific. 

Cabeza's narrative enables us to trace the path fol- 
lowed by the wanderers. After their escape from the 
savages of the coast, they headed inland, having learned 
that they would find there less cruel and more numerous 
peoples, and with the hope of being able some day to 
describe the land and its inhabitants for the world's 
benefit. Here for many months their roving feet led 
them from tribe to tribe through the interior of Texas, 
they going as far north as the Canadian River, then 
following Indian trails over the westward water-shed, 
and descending to the banks of the Rio Grande. As 
they wandered on they imitated the Indians by wear- 
ing deer-skins, and afterwards buffalo-robes, as win- 
ter clothing. 

From the Rio Grande the castaways went slowly 
westward through New Mexico, from Indian town to 
town, their cheerful spirit enabling them to bear up 
against hunger, cold, and weariness, their courage and 



96 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

readiness in resources guarding them against danger 
from wild beasts and hostile savages, until finally the 
continent was crossed and they reached the Pacific 
coast, treading the soil of civilization again in May, 
1536, at the village of San Miguel in Sonora, after a 
wonderful journey of nearly two thousand miles in 
length. 

Nine years had passed since they sailed with Nar- 
vaez from the Guadalquivir in Spain, and nearly eight 
years since they set sail in their frail boats from the 
harbor of St. Mark's. For six of these, as has been said, 
they were held in cruel captivity by the Indians of 
Texas. Then, escaping from their captors, they spent 
more than twenty months in their long journey to the 
far West, emerging at last like men risen from the dead 
on the western coast of Mexico, the first of men to 
cross the continent of North America in its full width. 

The enthusiasm of their reception helped to repay 
them for their sufferings, a guard of honor of sol- 
diers escorting them to Compostella, while through- 
out their journey to the city of Mexico they were 
entertained as public guests. Here we must take leave 
of the brave Cabeza de Vaca and his companions, with 
the statement that the story they told had its share in 
leading to another famous expedition, to be described 
in a later tale. 



IN AMERICA 97 



FRANCISCO DE ORELLANA: THE EX- 
PLORATION OF THE AMAZON 

Never had there been revealed to human eyes a more 
alluring prospect than that which opened out before 
the Spaniards in the New World. They stood on the 
shores of a virgin continent, of whose marvels no 
white man had ever gained a glimpse. What wonders 
it contained, what riches might lie hidden in its vast 
depths, what scenes of enchantment and realms of 
magic it concealed, no one could guess. Ponce de 
Leon's search for the Fountain of Youth was but one 
of the waking dreams which filled men's minds in that 
age of credulity and superstition. Likely enough there 
were other wild fancies of which history has kept no 
record. 

Men of enterprise and imagination must have been 
especially stirred to action after the conquest of Mex- 
ico and Peru and the undreamed-of ransom paid by 
Pizarro's royal captive. Here was gold surpassing the 
wildest hopes of the adventurers. No flitting phantom 
this, for here was the gleaming metal in vast pro- 
fusion. And the wealth the Spaniards wrung from 
the captive Inca was fondly believed to be only a tithe 
of that concealed in the realms of Montezuma and 
the Incas, while who could say but that other golden 
empires lay in the depths of that wide continent? The 
prizes found lured them on to the hope of richer prizes 
still to be discovered. 

Tales came from the natives to the ears of the Span- 
iards of distant lands immensely rich in gold, silver, 
and precious stones. There slowly grew up the belief 
7 



98 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

in a marvellous El Dorado, a region of fabulous 
wealth, whose capital was a mighty city of which the 
very watering troughs in the streets were of solid 
gold and silver, while billets of gold lay stored in 
heaps, like logs of wood piled up to burn. The proud 
monarch of this glittering realm had the luxurious 
habit of covering his body with turpentine and rolling 
in gold dust until he shone like a golden statue, while 
priceless gems gleamed and sparkled on his breast 
and limbs. 

It is not surprising that many eager explorers set 
out in search of this city of dreamland, which the 
wild fancies of the Indians had painted in such glow- 
ing colors. But most of these adventurers found suf- 
fering and death instead of the wealth they craved. 
Latest of them all was the English knight, Sir Wal- 
ter Raleigh, who set sail for El Dorado with his mind 
filled with glowing pictures and went far up the broad 
Orinoco in his fruitless and hapless quest. His fate 
was like that of Ponce de Leon, who was slain in his 
search for eternal youth. Raleigh's quest led to his 
execution at the demand of the King of Spain, whose 
realm he had invaded. 

Yet while this land of gold — which fled like a Will 
o' the Wisp before those who sought it — was never 
found, the search for it led to important results in 
geographical discovery, the most famous instance of 
which was the exploration of the mighty Amazon 
River by Francisco de Orellana. The story of this 
daring voyage and the remarkable expedition which 
led to it, is one of the kind that does not grow stale 
in the telling. 

It is indeed this daring excursion into the unknown 
with which we are here mainly concerned, Orellana's 
journey down the earth's grandest stream being merely 



IN AMERICA 99 

the sequel to an extraordinary event. In the year 1540 
the expedition set out from Quito, led by Gonzalo 
Pizarro, one of the able brothers of the conqueror of 
Peru. It was a large and well-equipped force that 
followed this capable leader, consisting of three hun- 
dred and fifty Spaniards, nearly half of them mounted, 
and four thousand Indians, their food-supply in- 
cluding five thousand hogs, which they drove before 
them as they advanced. 

In warm hope and buoyant expectation the adven- 
turers set out, each of them, it may be, dreaming of 
building a noble castle in Spain from his share of the 
wealth to be found. Two years later a meagre and 
starving remnant returned in rags and misery, so worn 
and broken by famine and suffering that few of them 
ever regained their lost health and strength. 

We shall not tell in detail the story of this ex- 
pedition, for it is a part of it only with which we are 
closely concerned. It may be said that gold was not 
the leading object of their search. It has already been 
said that the spices of the East were among the choice 
prizes sought by Columbus and the mariners of Por- 
tugal. Spices it was that Pizarro sought. The In- 
dians had told of a land beyond the mighty hills where 
the cinnamon-tree grew abundantly, and it was in quest 
of this fabled forest of spices that the adventurers 
faced the horrors of the ice-clad hills, the terror of 
whose crests and ravines they little knew. 

As they marched onward the rainy season of the 
tropics opened its floodgates upon them. Torrents de- 
scended on their shivering bodies as they toiled over 
the steep and rugged Andes, shivering in the cold 
winds as they trudged through the loftier passes, 
scorching in the steaming tropical heats as they de- 
scended to the lower levels beyond. 



ioo HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

Death came to many in that world of rocks and 
cliffs, especially to the poorly clad natives. At one 
point an earthquake shook the hills, the earth rending 
asunder and sulphurous fumes pouring forth. Months 
of this dismal passage went by before they left the 
mountains behind them and reached the region of the 
hoped-for cinnamon forests only to find that no such 
forests existed, or if any tree was found that shed the 
precious bark it was useless to them, as they had no 
means of transporting it back. But there was a new 
beacon light ahead, for the wandering natives they 
met told them of a land only ten days' journey away 
where gold in profusion was to be had. 

What mattered the lack of spices when gold beck- 
oned them onward? Before the allurement of that 
magical word all thought of suffering vanished and 
they toiled on, now over grassy plains, now through 
dense forests of enormous trees, where vines and 
creepers spread from tree to tree and the axe had to 
be used at every step. 

Their clothing, rotted by the rains and torn by briars, 
hung about them in rags ; their drove of swine had 
been partly eaten, while the remainder had escaped 
into the hills ; their rain-soaked food was spoiled ; the 
bloodhounds they had brought with them they were 
now forced to kill and eat, and when these lean and 
starved dogs were devoured no food remained but 
such as the forest afforded. 

A miserable crew it was that at length came to the 
banks, of a noble river, whose waters, emerging from 
the eastern Andes, poured swiftly through the dense 
tropical forest. It was the stream now known as 
the Napo, one of the larger feeders of the mighty 
Amazon. Gladdened by the sight, for many miles 
they followed its banks, at one place passing a grand 



IN AMERICA 101 

cataract, where the whole body of water plunged 
downward to an enormous depth. Still the alluring 
land of gold lay ahead, so the natives told them, and 
for many days they followed the river, hope gradually 
dying in their hearts. Everywhere in the New World 
the natives had told them that tale of gold to be found 
afar, probably to rid themselves of unwelcome guests. 

Pizarro at length bade his men to halt. They were 
worn out with their toilsome progress and he resolved 
to build a vessel large enough to carry the baggage and 
the men who were unfit to walk. 

Two months were spent in this labor, trees being 
felled and shaped by the axe, nails saved from the 
shoes of dead or slaughtered horses used in the tim- 
bers, the needed pitch got from gum-yielding trees, 
and oakum obtained from the rags of clothing which 
the men replaced by the skins of wild beasts. At 
length the first vessel that ever floated on these far in- 
land waters was finished and launched. It was large 
enough to carry half the Spaniards that remained 
alive, and the command was given by Pizarro to Fran- 
cisco de Orellana, a cavalier who had always shown 
himself brave and trusty. 

The lately despairing Spaniards now went on with 
new hope and courage, the brigantine keeping pace 
with the men that marched by the river side, and tak- 
ing on board all who broke down under the toil of 
the journey. Onward till the last of their horses had 
been killed and eaten and the very leather of their 
saddles and belts was devoured. Pizarro now decided 
to stop for rest, proposing to feed his men on such 
scant spoil as the forest offered, and send Orellana on- 
ward in the vessel to the fruitful country of which the 
Indians still told them. Taking fifty of the men on 
board, and promising to return with food when he 



102 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

reached the land of which the natives so cheeringly 
spoke, Orellana gave the vessel freely to the swift cur- 
rent of the Napo, and it quickly vanished from the 
vision of those left behind. They were never to set 
eyes on it again. 

Let us follow the voyage of the brigantine, the first 
craft larger than an Indian canoe till then seen on the 
waters of interior Brazil. A remarkable journey lay 
before it, more wonderful far than that of the famous 
Argonauts of Greece. There were thousands of miles 
of waters which no keel had ever ruffled, bordered by 
forests which the axe of the white man had never 
touched, and peopled by many tribes of wild savages 
to whom the coming of the Spaniards to their conti- 
nent was still a thing unknown. Great and thrilling 
was the journey which lay before the new Argonauts. 

On leaving the forest camp the brigantine, no longer 
forced to keep pace with the slow moving men on 
shore, passed rapidly down the swift stream, and in 
three days shot out from the Napo into the great 
parent river, the Amazon. It was a journey which 
it afterwards took Pizarro and his men two months 
to perform. 

This point reached, Orellana eagerly looked about 
him for the cultivated land, rich in gold, of which the 
Indians had so confidently spoken. Instead he saw 
only a continuation of the tropical forest through which 
they had so long struggled, almost destitute of inhabi- 
tants, and scarcely furnishing food enough for himself 
and his few men. 

The navigators were in a dilemma. It was impos- 
sible to return against the Napo's swift current. To 
go back by land was a task all shrank from under- 
taking, especially as they had no food or hopeful news 
to take with them. What were they to do? Should 



IN AMERICA 103 

they wait until the men they had left came on to meet 
them? In this difficult position Orellana forgot his 
honor and duty. He was on the waters of a grand 
river, which somewhere must flow into the ocean. On 
its banks, as he had been told, were populous nations, 
rich in wealth. There was glory almost rivalling that 
of Columbus awaiting the man who should first trav- 
erse this mighty stream and carry back to Spain the 
story of its discovery. And who knew but that the 
land of gold, an El Dorado far richer than that of 
Peru, lay somewhere on its banks? 

When Orellana spoke of this scheme to his compan- 
ions, he found them ready and eager to join in the 
daring enterprise. They had had enough and more 
than enough of the forest. In the brilliant prospect 
that opened before them they thought little of the 
friends they were deserting in the woodland wilds. 
One only among them, Sanchez de Vargas by name, 
opposed the project, which he spoke of as an inhuman 
and dishonorable desertion of their friends. But the 
yellow glitter of gold and the white light of glory 
shone too strongly now in Orellana's eyes for any ar- 
gument to stop his treacherous purpose, and the dis- 
pute ended by his leaving De Vargas behind in the 
wilderness and trusting the brigantine, with the rest 
of his men on board, to the unknown waters lying 
before them. Or, it may be, as some tell us, he halted 
to build a new and stronger vessel. 

The current still ran swiftly onward and the forest- 
built craft, rude but strong, shot rapidly along, the for- 
est still closely clasping the wanderers in, but the miles 
slipping behind them at a rate that filled their souls 
with joyful hope. They little dreamed of the vast 
distance they had to go, the three thousand or more 
miles that lay between them and the sea, and in the 



104 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

joy of swift flight down those noble waters, and in the 
strangeness of the scenes they met, forgot the friends 
they had left to their fate and heeded not the perils 
that might lurk in their path. 

The Amazon, broad and noble as it is, is not devoid 
of dangers. Here there are long reaches of shallows ; 
here rocks imperil the stream. Many times they were 
in frightful danger when shooting down the troubled 
waters of rapids; at other times protruding rocks 
threatened them with destruction. Yet fortune, which 
may favor the reckless as well as the brave, stood the 
friend of these daring voyagers, and they passed all the 
perils of the great stream unharmed. Condamine, who 
descended the Amazon two centuries later, tells us that 
the navigation is too difficult and dangerous to be ven- 
tured upon without the aid of a skilful pilot, yet these 
untrained adventurers, the first to launch a craft on its 
waters, went down its whole vast length unharmed. 

At times they passed the mouths of other great 
streams, which, like the Napo, poured their waters into 
the mighty central flood. Forests of dense growth, 
and filled with trees of endless variety, bordered the 
river through much of its course, though at intervals 
broad savannas, or wide regions of swampy overflow, 
spread from its banks. The adventurers rarely dared 
set foot on land, for the Indians along the stream, 
numerous and warlike, were hostile throughout, and 
safety was to be found only on board their vessel. Nor 
was it assured there, for the hostile tribesmen at times 
pursued them for miles in their canoes. 

This hostility rendered it difficult for the mariners 
to obtain food, but fortunately they found that the 
river swarmed with fish in great variety. Turtles were 
also numerous, and though their diet was limited in 
kind they were not likely to suffer from hunger. Aside 



IN AMERICA 105 

from the perils of the navigation, their chief danger 
came from the hostility of the natives to whom this 
strange thing afloat on their river and filled with white- 
skinned men was apparently a demon to be feared and 
assailed. Many of the adventurers were slain in their 
fierce encounters with the naked forest warriors, and 
more than once their toils and perils led to mutinous 
outbreaks. But these Orellana easily quelled, and 
finally the extraordinary voyage reached its end, and 
the brigantine, built in the forests of the far interior, 
rode at length safely on the Atlantic's swelling waves. 

Here, for the first time, did Orellana learn what 
stream it was that he had traversed for months. It 
proved to be that mighty current which Pinzon had 
discovered many years before, and whose broad and 
deep flood freshens the ocean waters for one hun- 
dred miles from the shore. 

The rude, forest-built brigantine, meant for river 
navigation only, dared the waves of the sea until the 
island of Cubagna was reached, and from here Orel- 
lana and his followers made their way to Spain, where 
the story of their wonderful adventure and discovery 
brought them the fame of which their leader so long 
had dreamed. The tale of actual wonders he had to 
tell was ornamented by Orellana with marvels still 
more agreeable to his open-eared hearers, and for 
which he could offer only the doubtful authority of 
the garrulous natives of Brazil. 

He told of a glittering El Dorado, a land so rich in 
the precious metals that gold was used to roof the 
temples and was as little considered as lead in Spain. 
He had another story of a race of female warriors 
who dominated the countries round them by their 
prowess in war. To these was given the name of 
Amazons from the similar fabled race of classical 



106 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

times, and this name has ever since been applied to 
the great South American stream. 

Though he had not seen these marvels himself, Orel- 
lana had no trouble in finding believers for any tale, 
however wonderful, he chose to tell, and little time 
elapsed before he set out at the head of five hundred 
men in search of that El Dorado, the ardent quest of 
which continued for half a century after his death. 
The expedition proved a failure, Orellana dying on 
the voyage, while Spain got no profit from his dis- 
covery, since the river he had traversed fell within the 
Portuguese territory of Brazil. 

Let us return now to Gonzalo Pizarro and his men, 
who had been heartlessly deserted in the far inland 
forest depths. After waiting long in vain for the re- 
turn of their comrades, they broke camp and went on 
down the stream, two months passing before they 
reached the Amazon, five or six hundred miles away. 
Here they were met by the half-starved Sanchez de 
Vargas, and learned with horror and indignation of 
the base desertion of Orellana and his men. 

There was but one thing to do, they must return to 
Quito, which they had left more than a year before. 
It was a thousand miles or more away, but Pizarro 
cheered them up by promising to take them back by 
another route which might bring them to the fruit- 
ful land of which they had heard so much. Glory 
would await them when they reached their native land. 
Cheered by this hopeful tone, in one who had freely 
shared all their perils and privations and had been a 
good comrade throughout, the wanderers set out with 
new trust in their leader, and began their toilsome 
journey home. 

The new route proved an easier one than that taken 
before, but starting without food, and depending only 



IN AMERICA 107 

on such as they could find on their way, their suffer- 
ings were greater still than of old. Many of them 
had ended their journey in death before, in the month 
of June, 1542, the remainder set foot in Quito again, a 
miserable, woe-begone, ragged fragment of the gay 
troop of cavaliers who had set out so bravely from that 
upland town in the spring days of 1540. Of the Indians 
more than half had died, while only eighty of the 
Spaniards came back, worn and broken wretches, most 
of them, who would never know a well day again. As 
for the cinnamon and gold they sought, these treasures 
lay then and lie still in the unfathomed realm of 
romance. 



io8 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 



HERNANDO DE SOTO AND THE DIS- 
COVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI 

In the story of the conquest of Peru mention was 
made of Hernando de Soto, who, on the first visit of 
the Spanish cavaliers to the Inca, surprised and 
startled Atahualpa and his chiefs by his masterly con- 
trol of his horse. Later he became the chief friend 
of the unfortunate Inca, and when Pizarro planned to 
put his prisoner to death he first sent De Soto away 
on a mission to a distant city. When the cavalier re- 
turned and learned of the treacherous and inhuman 
deed, his words were sharp enough to pierce the con- 
science of Pizarro like swords — if that Spanish mur- 
derer had possessed a conscience. At a later date this 
man, Hernando de Soto, followed the futile effort of 
Narvaez by a great exploration of United States ter- 
ritory, the story of which we have now to tell. 

Born in Spain in 1496, four years after the first voy- 
age of Columbus, De Soto was still young when he 
went with Pizarro to Peru, and when he returned to 
Spain, rich with his share of the Inca's roomful of 
gold. He was welcomed to his native land like a re- 
turning conqueror. Feted and admired as one of the 
great men of Spain, marrying the daughter of a power- 
ful nobleman, and enjoying the high favor of the king, 
he seemed to have reached the highest level of ambi- 
tion. But his success only prompted him to new 
efforts. The fame won by Cortes and Pizarro lured 
him to rivalry, and he dreamed of possible empires 
richer in gold than Peru. Who knew what lay in that 
vast country north of Mexico and west of Florida? 



IN AMERICA 109 

It might teem with unimagined wealth, and the covet- 
ous cavalier looked hopefully thither for gold and 
fame. 

Asking the king for authority to conquer Florida 
at his own expense, and requesting to be made gover- 
nor of Cuba as an aid to the enterprise, Charles V. 
readily consented, and when the news spread through 
Spain that the renowned lieutenant of Pizarro was 
about to sail in search of an El Dorado to the north, 
the highest excitement prevailed. De Soto could have 
had thousands of gallant followers. Many men of 
noble birth offered themselves as volunteers at their 
own expense. There were Portuguese as well as 
Spaniards among them, the former in gleaming armor, 
the latter " very gallant with silk upon silk." Out of 
them all De Soto selected six hundred or more, the 
flower of the flock. The remainder he was obliged 
to reject. 

The expedition left Spain as if on a festival cruise, 
and was greeted in Cuba with feasts and merry- 
makings. Vessels were sent to Florida to seek a suit- 
able harbor, and brought back two Indians who were 
adepts at lying. They talked in signs only, but suc- 
ceeded in convincing the adventurers that they were 
going to " the richest country that had yet been dis- 
covered." Only ill news had come from the Narvaez 
expedition, but the fate of that hapless venture did 
not deter De Soto's hope-inspired followers. 

Leaving his young wife to govern Cuba in his ab- 
sence, De Soto set sail on the 18th of May, 1539, and 
on the 30th sailed into Tampa Bay, the starting-point 
of Narvaez on his ill-starred expedition. Here the 
gallant six hundred landed, and with them the two or 
three hundred horses they had brought. Efforts had 
been made to provide for every contingency, Cannon, 



no HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

fire-arms, steel armor were brought, and even fetters 
for the limbs of Indian captives. As useful allies they 
brought with them a large number of fierce blood- 
hounds and a great drove of hogs to supply them with 
fresh meat. 

De Soto, like Cortes, had no thought of returning. 
He did not sink his ships, like the invader of Mexico, 
but he sent them back to Cuba, thus cutting off the 
chance of a hasty retreat. There was every reason to 
hope for success, for the party was more numerous 
and better equipped than the famous expeditions which 
had invaded Mexico and Peru. De Soto's old experi- 
ence told him what would be needed and he had made 
careful preparation. His expedition was especially 
rich in horses, and it was a gallant cavalcade that set 
out from Tampa Bay one fine morning in early June in 
ardent expectation of winning fortune and fame. 

The simple-minded natives gazed with amazement 
and admiration on the shining array, with its glitter 
of helmet and lance, and the gay flutter of its silken 
pennons, and heard with wonder the clangor of trum- 
pets and neighing of horses, — sounds and sights these 
new and strange to that ancient forest, for no such 
splendid display had been made by Narvaez and his 
men in their less pretentious expedition. 

In the track of Narvaez they went, meeting the 
same difficulties which he had encountered, finding the 
Indians everywhere hostile, the route wearisome and 
perilous, while there was nowhere a trace of the gold 
they sought or the civilized natives whose presence 
had given hope to the invaders of more southern 
realms. From June to October they pressed wearily 
forward, reaching at length the vicinity of Appalachee, 
where the march of Narvaez had terminated. 

On one of their days of march it was with utter sur- 



IN AMERICA in 

prise that they saw, amid a throng of dusky savages, a 
white man on horseback, who rode towards them with 
wild gestures of delight, and greeted them joyfully in 
their own tongue. He proved to be a Spaniard named 
Juan Ortiz, one of the followers of Narvaez, who had 
been taken prisoner by the Indians and had lived with 
them ever since. 

He told a story of thrilling experience. His captors 
had at first designed to burn him alive by a slow fire, 
as a sacrifice to the Evil Spirit, and he was laid, bound 
hand and foot, on a wooden stage, beneath which a 
fire was kindled. At this moment of frightful peril 
the daughter of the chief begged so earnestly for his 
life that he was released to become a slave to his foes. 
Three years later he was again condemned to the 
flames, but was saved once more by the chief's daugh- 
ter, who warned him of his peril and led him to the 
camp of another chief. Here he remained till De 
Soto and his party came. 

During his captivity Ortiz had gained a knowledge 
of the language and customs of the Indians and was 
afterwards found invaluable as a guide and interpre- 
ter. But he knew of no land of gold or silver and of 
no civilized empire, and his story added to the dis- 
couragement which most of the adventurers now felt. 
They begged De Soto to return, saying that their 
quest was hopeless and only suffering and death lay 
before them, but he was immovable. " I will not turn 
back," he said, " till I have seen the poverty of the 
country with my own eyes." 

Guided by Ortiz, the exploring army wandered 
through the wilds of Florida till the next spring. Then 
a native guide was found who said he would take 
them to a distant country over which ruled a queen, 
and where there was abundance of a yellow metal. 



ii2 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

With new hope the Spaniards eagerly followed him, 
not dreaming that the metal they took to be gold would 
prove to be only copper and the queen the ruler of 
an ordinary tribe. 

The realm of the Indian queen was reached, and its 
sovereign found to be friendly. The dusky princess 
came in woodland state to meet her visitor, carried in 
a litter by four of her subjects. On alighting she ad- 
vanced to De Soto with gestures of welcome, and tak- 
ing from her neck a heavy double string of pearls she 
hung it on that of the Spanish chief. De Soto bowed 
with courtly grace as he accepted the rich gift, and for 
a time kept up a show of friendship with the forest 
queen. 

His later treatment of the poor cacica was that of a 
heartless traitor. Obtaining from her all the informa- 
tion he could, and finding that she and her people 
had no gold, he determined to rob them of what poor 
treasures they possessed. Making her his prisoner, he 
rifled the graves of former chiefs, in which were bur- 
ied large numbers of pearls. The finest of the gems in 
the possession of the tribe was a box of rare pearls, 
the property of the queen, but which De Soto claimed as 
his own, holding it in special esteem. It is pleasant 
to be able to relate that the dusky captive managed to 
escape from her guards and to baffle the thief by 
taking with her the valued box of pearls. 

The wanderers had now gone far through the east- 
ern section of the country, the home of the cacica 
being near the Atlantic seaboard. In this section De 
Ayllon had landed twenty years before, and they found 
among the Indians a dagger and a rosary left by him. 
They were thus on known soil, and they now turned 
to the west, seeking new and untrodden country. 
But wherever they went most of the Indians proved 



IN AMERICA 113 

hostile, and they constantly had to fight their way. 
Those of the natives who were taken prisoners were in 
part slain, in part enslaved, being led in chains, with 
iron collars round their necks, and forced to carry the 
baggage and grind the corn of their captors. 

Throughout the year 1540 the adventurers wan- 
dered on, most of them now utterly hopeless ; but they 
found the governor " a stern man and of few words," 
a man of firm will and inflexible purpose. Their opin- 
ions they might freely give, but his word they must 
obey. Thus crossing Georgia, they entered the fertile 
plains of Alabama, where they enjoyed the abundant 
wild grapes and admired the luxuriant growth of 
maize, then ripening in the Indian fields. Turning 
southwardly as the year advanced from spring to au- 
tumn, the party, with much reduced numbers, came at 
length to a large village called Mavilla, near the site 
of the modern Mobile. 

The Spaniards proposed to take possession of this 
place in their usual high-handed manner, and De Soto 
and some of his men entered the palisades surrounding 
it, accompanied by the mild-mannered cacique. But 
the moment they were inside his meekness turned to 
words of insult and he vanished into one of the houses. 
A hot-headed Spaniard drew his sword on another of 
the chiefs, whereupon, as if this were a signal, in a 
moment showers of arrows poured from all the houses. 
De Soto and a few others escaped, but nearly all those 
with him were slain. 

A hot battle followed, lasting nine hours, the In- 
dians fighting with desperate courage. Only by set- 
ting fire to the town and destroying many of their foes 
by the smoke and flames did the whites at length pre- 
vail. But their victory was a costly one, eighteen of 
them being slain and one hundred and fifty wounded, 
8 



ii4 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

a large number of their horses killed or lost, and nearly 
the whole of their baggage, which had been taken in- 
side the town, being consumed in the flames. 

The situation had now grown serious. The soldiers 
begged to be taken back to the coast, where they might 
await the ships. De Soto had secret information that 
these ships were then in the bay of Pensacola, only six 
days' march away, but he concealed this fact and led 
his followers to the north, his pride forbidding him to 
return until he had made every effort to discover some 
rich country. The party wintered in a small town of 
the Chickasaw Indians, in upper Mississippi. 

When the spring of 1541 arrived and the time to 
renew their journey was at hand, De Soto ordered the 
chiefs to supply him with two hundred men to carry 
his baggage. The Indians, on the contrary, exasper- 
ated at their treatment by the whites, set fire at night to 
the town, and fiercely attacked the Spaniards when 
enveloped by the flames. Not a man of them would 
have escaped to tell the tale had not the savages become 
frightened at their own success, and drawn back when 
victory was in their grasp. 

But the losses of the Christians were severe. Eleven 
of them had fallen, many of their horses had been 
killed or escaped into the forest, most of the swine were 
consumed, their very clothes were burned, and they 
were obliged thereafter to dress themselves in skins 
and mats of ivy leaves. But they erected forges, retem- 
pered their swords, made tough ashen lances, and, led 
on by their indomitable commander, resumed their 
journey to the west. 

In the month of May, 1541, they came to the banks 
of the mightiest of American rivers, the lordly Mis- 
sissippi, and gazed with admiration on the broad 
waters of that grand stream on which the eyes of 



IN AMERICA 115 

white men had never before rested. It had been seen 
where its waters poured into the Gulf, but they were 
the first to see it flowing majestically southward be- 
tween its banks, and bearing the floating spoil of thou- 
sands of miles of forests upon its waves. 

The remainder of this remarkable expedition must 
be dealt with more briefly. Terrible had been the 
progress of the invaders through that once happy land, 
dreadfully had the poor natives suffered from the 
ruthless cruelty of the whites, twice had the Span- 
iards barely escaped destruction at the hands of their 
exasperated foes, and now, with greatly diminished 
numbers, most of their animals gone, themselves clad 
only in leaves and skins, their arms, ammunition, and 
baggage mainly destroyed, they stood on the banks 
of a vast and swift stream, which seemed like an im- 
passable barrier to further progress in that direc- 
tion. 

But no obstacles, either of nature or man, seemed 
capable of stopping the daring De Soto. The natives 
beyond the river appeared to be friendly, rowing down 
the stream in a great fleet of canoes, and bringing gifts 
of fish and loaves to their white-faced visitors. The 
leader, therefore, determined to cross, led onward still 
by that yellow phantom which had lured him so far. 

Barges were built strong enough to carry their 
horses, and after a month's delay they reached the 
western bank of the great river, with a vast unknown 
country extending interminably before them. Their 
route now lay northward along the stream, through a 
difficult country, with forests to be traversed and 
morasses to be waded. Finally they reached the higher 
lands of Missouri, a country where the streams fur- 
nished fish and the forests wild fruits in abundance, 
and where the natives hailed them as children of the 



n6 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

sun and brought out their blind to be restored to vis- 
ion by the sons of light. 

Just how far north they advanced we cannot tell, 
but we know that they wandered more than two hun- 
dred miles west of the Mississippi, still seeking in vain 
for gold and gems. Then they turned southward, and 
spent the ensuing winter encamped near the site of 
Little Rock, in Arkansas. 

When spring came again De Soto, worn out by his 
wanderings, and now deprived by death of his most 
valuable aid, Juan Ortiz, resumed his journey, ad- 
vancing towards the Mississippi through a country 
of bayous and marshes. The dense woods, the fre- 
quent water-courses, the impassable canebrakes, were 
utterly discouraging, disease attacked the men in the 
moist lowlands, and the Indians grew more hostile as 
the strength of the whites decreased. 

Near Natchez De Soto sought to overawe a tribe by 
claiming to be immortal and to possess supernatural 
powers, but its chief proved too shrewd for his arts. 
" You say you are the child of the sun," said the In- 
dian ; " dry up the river, and I will believe you. If 
you wish to see me, visit the town where I dwell. If 
you come in peace, I will greet you as a friend ; if in 
war, I will not go back a foot." 

The Spanish leader would soon be past peace or 
war. Worn out by his labors and attacked by a viru- 
lent fever, he felt that his end was at hand, and called 
together the survivors of his company, asking their 
pardon for the evils he had brought upon them, and 
appointing a successor. On the following day, May 21, 
1542, the companion of Pizarro, the discoverer of the 
Mississippi, one of the greatest of the Spanish ex- 
plorers, breathed his last, after a remarkable journey 



IN AMERICA 117 

in which the quest for gold had led him over a vast 
stretch of the North American continent. 

Alvaredo, his successor, fearing to let the natives 
discover the fact of his death, had him secretly buried 
outside the camp. Then, seeing that they looked sus- 
piciously at the new-made grave, he had the corpse 
removed during the night, wrapped in a mantle 
weighted with sand, and sunk in the middle of the 
great stream, the priests chanting over the body the 
first requiems ever heard in that far western land. Re- 
markable was the resting-place of a remarkable man. 

Quieting the curious natives by telling them that 
the Child of the Sun had gone to heaven, but would 
soon return, Alvaredo quietly broke up the camp and 
led his people away, penetrating hundreds of miles 
deeper into the western wilderness in unrelenting 
search of gold. Finally, hopeless of success, he led 
them back to the great stream and, fearing to attempt 
the long journey down its banks, set his followers 
to building boats. Six months the worn-out men spent 
in this work. Timber was cut with a large saw, which 
they had carried with them through all their wander- 
ings. Nails were made of the fetters of the slaves and 
the scraps of iron that remained. The few horses and 
hogs they still had were killed, and their flesh dried for 
food, while the Indian settlements near by were robbed 
of their supplies of corn. Barrels to hold fresh water 
were made and other preparations completed. 

Finally the seven brigantines they had built were 
launched, and on the 26. of July, 1543, the wanderers 
embarked. The point of embarkation was a short dis- 
tance above the mouth of the Red River. Down the 
stream they floated for seventeen days, the banks on 
both sides lined with hostile Indians, who plied them 
with arrows as they passed. Some five hundred miles 



n8 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

of river journey brought them to the waters of the 
Gulf of Mexico, whose coast they skirted for about 
fifty days more. Finally, on the ioth of September, 
1543, the miserable remnant of De Soto's gallant band, 
three hundred and eleven in number, reached the Span- 
ish settlement of Panuco, in Mexico, where they were 
received as men risen from the dead. 

Thus ended the most remarkable, if measured by its 
failures and misfortunes and the indomitable will and 
courage of its leader, of the Spanish explorations of 
the New World. 



IN AMERICA 119 



FRANCISCO DE CORONADO AND THE 
LAND OF THE BUFFALO 

There is nothing more significant of the enterprise 
of the Spaniards in America, in the early days of con- 
quest and settlement, than to find them engaged at the 
same time in three great works of exploration, in 
widely different sections of the continent. While Gon- 
zalo Pizarro was seeking the land of cinnamon and 
Orellana descending the Amazon, and while Hernando 
de Soto was making his famous journey from the At- 
lantic to the Mississippi, still another ardent explorer 
was leading an expedition from the city of Mexico 
far into the untrodden North, marching from the south 
into the same vast region into which De Soto marched 
from the east. This was the daring journey of Fran- 
cisco Vasquez de Coronado into the land of the buf- 
falo. 

Some ten years before this an Indian slave brought 
from the north had told a marvellous story. In the 
land from which he came was a great and populous 
kingdom named Cibola, whose king ruled over seven 
thriving cities. Further on were other kingdoms 
with greater cities still, and rich in gold and silver. 
A yellow tinge seemed to lie over all the land. 

The story told by Cabeza de Vaca and his compan- 
ions when they reached Mexico, though it said noth- 
ing about Cibola and its seven cities, helped to stimu- 
late curiosity and cupidity, and a strong desire to ex- 
plore and conquer the supposed rich countries to the 
north arose. Who could say but that another empire, 



120 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

as rich and great as that of Mexico, lay there await- 
ing the enterprising pioneer? 

Mexico by this time had settlements far north of 
the capital city, and in 1538 Coronado, a man of dar- 
ing enterprise and inspiring energy, was appointed 
governor of New Galicia, the province of the north. 
In the following year he sent out a pioneer party, con- 
sisting of a priest named Marcos de Niza, who had 
been with Pizarro in Peru, several Indian guides, and 
especially the negro Estevanico, one of the comrades 
of De Vaca in his wonderful journey, and from whose 
knowledge of the land much was expected. 

Northward went Father Marcos, hearing as he ad- 
vanced stories of rich countries, where gold was worn 
as ornaments by the people, who dwelt in large stone 
houses with doorways built of precious turquoise. The 
tales grew more alluring with every league of pro- 
gress, and the worthy friar, who had seen the wealth 
of Mexico and Peru, seemed justified in dreaming of 
another golden empire awaiting conquest. 

It was a picturesque country through which his 
route lay, a land of fertile and well-watered valleys, 
bordered by mountains; of deep and narrow canons 
through which swift streams ran; of rock walls 
carved by nature into the forms of towers and turrets. 
Then came a richly irrigated region, where turquoises 
were worn around the necks and in the ears and noses 
of the people. Cibola lay still beyond, its houses grow- 
ing in report until some of them became ten stories 
high. Farther north the rugged valley of the Gila 
River was crossed, and the pioneer pushed on into the 
wilderness beyond, now attended by a large volunteer 
escort of curious natives. So far all had gone on pros- 
perously, but at length alarming tidings reached his 
ears. 



IN AMERICA 121 

To tell what occurred we must go back a step. 
Early in his journey the friar had sent Estevanico in 
advance, trusting to his knowledge of the land and its 
people, and bidding him, if he discovered anything of 
importance, to send back a cross. Within four days 
Indian messengers brought back a cross of such im- 
posing size that it seemed to indicate great discov- 
eries. 

Let us follow Estevanico in his journey. The vain- 
glorious negro, for the first time entrusted with a 
mission, lost his head, and advanced through the In- 
dian country with the state of an Oriental potentate. 
A large escort of Indians gathered round him, carry- 
ing his provisions and the gifts received by him from 
the tribes. Two Spanish greyhounds followed at his 
heels, and he was accompanied by a number of hand- 
some Indian women, whom he had chosen as his special 
attendants. On his sable arms and legs the grandilo- 
quent negro wore tinkling bells and showy feathers 
as ornaments, and in his hand he carried a gourd like- 
wise adorned with bells and feathers. His former ex- 
perience had taught him that this was a symbol of 
authority among the Indians. 

The negro's folly and ignorance led him in the end 
to ruin and death. When near Cibola he, disobeying 
the orders given him, sent his gourd into the city, 
saying that he came to treat for peace and to cure the 
sick. The chief to whom it was presented flung it 
down angrily, saying, " These bells are not of our 
fashion. We know not these strangers. Tell them to 
go back at once, or they will all be killed." 

This warning the imprudent negro chose to disre- 
gard, advancing with his company to the city, where 
they were stopped in their progress, despoiled of all 
their possessions, and refused food and water. The 



122 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

next morning, as they daringly left the house in which 
they had been immured, they were attacked by the 
people and Estevanico and all his followers killed, 
except two Indians who escaped and carried the dis- 
quieting news back to Father Marcos. 

The alarming tidings spread among his followers, 
frightening them so thoroughly that he had great diffi- 
culty in inducing any of them to go farther into the 
perilous country. Only by means of attractive presents 
did he win over two of their chiefs. He did not pro- 
pose to venture to the city which had proved fatal to 
his dusky pioneer, but he did not wish to go back 
without at least a sight of it. Cautiously advancing, 
he at length reached the summit of a hill from which 
he gazed down upon a broad and cultivated plain, while 
afar, magnified by the mountain hazes, lay the city he 
sought. To his excited fancy it was greater still than 
the proud capital of Mexico, its flat-roofed stone 
houses being large and of many stories. He dared 
not go nearer, and returned to Coronado with this 
story, attractive enough to whet the enthusiasm of the 
ardent Spaniard, though nothing had been seen of 
gold, silver, or precious stones. The green turquoise 
observed was not of especial value, and no other treas- 
ures had been found. 

There was little cool weighing of the friar's narra- 
tive. One city had been seen of seeming magnificence. 
Other and richer ones were said to be beyond. Wealth 
unimaginable might await the explorer. Mexico was 
full of adventurous spirits eager to take part in any 
promising enterprise, and the call for volunteers 
quickly brought together a troop of over three hundred 
daring men, most of them mounted, and many so dis- 
tinguished in rank and lofty in aspiration that the 
number of officers had to be strictly limited lest half 



IN AMERICA 123 

the troop should be captains. Eight hundred Indians 
were taken along, sheep and cows were driven with 
them to supply fresh meat, and nothing that seemed 
likely to aid the enterprise was overlooked. Their 
weapons of offence included several small field-pieces, 
the dreaded thunder-tubes of former Indian wars. 

Coronado was confirmed as commander by the Mex- 
ican viceroy, and early in 1540 the expedition set out, 
rivalling that of De Soto which had started from 
Tampa Bay the year before in the splendor of bur- 
nished armor, shining swords and lances, and richly 
caparisoned horses. Those of lower rank wore hel- 
mets of iron or of tough bullhide, the footmen car- 
ried muskets and crossbows, and the Indian auxil- 
iaries were armed with their accustomed war-clubs and 
bows and arrows. A small fleet was also sent out 
along the Pacific coast, designed to reinforce the land 
army from a point farther north, but it failed to make 
connections and was of no service to Coronado. 

Warm were the hopes of the adventurers as they 
rode onward in the path traced for them by Marcos 
de Niza. Early in July they reached the city of Hawai- 
kuh, — possibly the present Zuni, — which had loomed 
so largely before the friar from his distant hill top. 
To their bitter disappointment they saw before them, 
instead of a splendid city, merely a large village of 
some two hundred houses. And its people were evi- 
dently ready to fight hard for their homes. Signal 
fires on the hills had warned the Spaniards that their 
progress was keenly observed, and as they came near 
the houses showers of arrows greeted them. All the 
women and children and the old men had been sent 
away, and the warriors of Cibola were ready to die for 
their native land. 

The houses, like the pueblo buildings which still 



124 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

exist in that locality, were of large dimensions, built 
in retreating terraces, each story being smaller than 
the one upon which it stood. These terraces offered 
elevated points of vantage from which the archers 
could pour their arrows with good effect. The war- 
riors numbered oniy two hundred, but the character 
of the buildings and the fact that the town could be 
approached only by a narrow, winding road were 
points in their favor. It was evident that the place 
could be carried only by assault. 

Posting the footmen where they could fire on the 
warriors, Coronado led his dismounted horsemen where 
they could scale the walls by aid of a ladder they had 
found. This was no easy task. The leader's shining 
armor made him an especial mark for the skilled arch- 
ers, and he was so hammered with arrows and bat- 
tered with stones that he had to be carried wounded 
from the field. Others were hurt, and three horses 
were killed, but in less than an hour the place was 
taken, the warriors fleeing from their fierce assailants. 

Disappointment awaited such of these as hoped for 
wealth. No trace of gold, precious stones, or riches 
of any description was found. They obtained the pro- 
visions they badly needed, and that was all. The friar 
Marcos, fearing for his life from the exasperated treas- 
ure-seekers, stole out of the camp and hurried back 
to Mexico, bringing to the viceroy the first discourag- 
ing tidings from the expedition. The food supplies 
consisted of " corn and beans and chickens, better than 
those of New Spain." The chickens were probably 
wild turkeys, which the natives kept for their plumage. 

This first city of Cibola was a sample of the whole. 
Here were no rich and thriving people ; here no treas- 
ures of gems and gold. The people were merely poor 
agriculturalists, destitute of' wealth, but valorous in 



IN AMERICA 125 

defence of their homes, and the magical " Seven Cities 
of Cibola" shrank into unimportant villages. The 
same was the case with the seven cities of Moqui, vis- 
ited by a party of horsemen, and found to be mere 
villages of poor Indians, whose only wealth consisted 
in corn, skins, and cotton mantles. Some of the vil- 
lages stood on lofty heights, to be reached only by 
narrow steps cut in the rock. 

The country was scoured by horsemen far and wide, 
one party discovering the wonderful canon, a mile in 
vertical depth, through which the waters of the Colo- 
rado pursue their winding way towards the sea. Na- 
ture has nowhere else so deep and imposing an abyss, 
and as the discoverers gazed into its stupendous depths 
their heads swam with nervous dread. Two men 
sought to descend, but attained only a third of the 
frightful depth, and on their return reported that a 
great block of stone, which seemed from the summit 
of a man's height, was loftier than the tower of the 
Cathedral at Seville. 

Towards the east, the Spaniards were told, lay a 
country of cattle with soft hair that curled like wool. 
Such were the first tidings received of the buffalo of 
the plains. The Indians who brought this news led 
back a party of horsemen, who in five days reached 
a town built on the summit of a high cliff, and almost 
inaccessible. Riding onward, they came to the coun- 
try of Tiguex, in which were twelve villages built of 
adobe, and where the people welcomed them as friends. 
To this country the army followed, and here they en- 
camped for the winter. 

The journey to Tiguex — which lay in the valley of 
the Rio del Norte, near the present Albuquerque — had 
an important result on the future career of the ad- 
venturers. For here was found an Indian slave, who 



126 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

said that his native land was a rich country to the 
northeast, called Quivira, the true land of the buffalo, 
described by him as huge animals with shaggy manes. 

El Turco, as the Spaniards named him from his re- 
semblance to a Turk, was a man of vivid imagination, 
which he freely used for the benefit of the credulous 
Spaniards. Brought before Coronado, he had a mar- 
vellous story to tell. In the wonderland of Quivira 
was a river two leagues wide, with fishes the size of 
horses, on which the lords of the land floated in huge 
and splendid canoes, moved by sails, and having more 
than twenty rowers to a side. A great golden eagle 
adorned the prow of each, and the lords reclined in 
them under rich awnings. Every afternoon the ruling 
chief of the land rested under a tree on the branches 
of which hung many golden bells, lulling him to sleep 
with their melody. The precious metals were almost 
as plentiful as stones, the very jugs, plates, and bowls 
being made of gold. 

It is no matter for wonder that the Spanish adven- 
turers were carried away with these enticing fables. 
Their past experience made them ready to accept the 
most exaggerated tales, and such a promise as this 
was not to be lightly set aside. Their disappointment 
hitherto had been such that the tale of El Turco was 
to them like a spur to a jaded steed. On the 23d of 
April, 1 541, the party again set out, heading towards 
the northeast. Against the advice of El Turco they 
loaded their horses with provisions, he protesting 
that they would need these animals to bring back the 
gold and silver they would find. They took him along 
as a guide, probably much against his will. 

Northward they marched, league after league, cross- 
ing the track of Cabeza de Vaca, in the valley of the 
Canadian River, and advancing for nine days beyond 



IN AMERICA 127 

that point until they reached a country of plains which 
seemed endless, and were tenanted chiefly by the bur- 
rowing prairie-dogs. This was the country of the buf- 
falo, of which they soon came upon vast herds. So 
numerous were they that one day, when a herd was 
put to flight, the animals fell into a ravine in such 
multitudes as to fill it up, so that the remainder crossed 
upon their dead bodies. 

Indians were met and eagerly questioned, but none 
of them knew of the yellow and white metals so glow- 
ingly described by El Turco. That romancer was 
thereupon put in fetters, with threats of death if his 
story should prove false. Coronado, not deeming it 
wise to take his whole force over those interminable 
plains, with no human inhabitants other than scat- 
tered Indian hunters, now sent back all but thirty 
horsemen and six foot-soldiers, with whom he still 
hoped to reach the golden realm of Quivira. 

Food was plentiful, the buffaloes furnishing them 
an abundant supply of meat, and for six weeks they 
continued their journey, reaching at length what El 
Turco said was the land of Quivira. It was far from 
being the realm of gold for which they had so ardently 
hoped. It lay in about 40 north latitude, extending 
north of a wide stream which is thought to have been 
the Arkansas River. It thus was situated in the 
present State of Kansas. 

The country was found to be well watered by rivers 
and brooks, the soil being a strong, black mould, 
bearing plums like those of Spain, with nuts, grapes, 
and excellent mulberries. It was a promising land for 
farmers, but barren as a wilderness for gold hunters. 
The only metal to be found among the people was cop- 
per. All the Indians seen were savages, dwelling 
in lodges of straw or buffalo hides, wearing buffalo 



128 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

robes for clothing, and knowing no cultivated food 
plant but the maize. The disgusted Coronado took re- 
venge upon his lying guide by strangling him, and 
raised on the bank of the Arkansas a cross with this 
inscription : " Thus far came Francisco Vasquez de 
Coronado, general of an expedition." 

It is an interesting fact that at this very time, in 
the summer of 1541, Hernando de Soto had reached 
a point in nearly the same latitude and only five or 
six hundred miles to the east, this other great leader 
being then on the highlands of the White River, in 
western Missouri. A week or two of travel eastward 
and westward at this time might have brought these 
famous explorers together in the far interior of the 
American continent — perhaps to condole with each 
other on their mutual disappointment. 

So far as Coronado's purpose was concerned, all 
was now at an end. He kept up the search somewhat 
longer, and then returned to Tiguex, and on October 
20, 1 54 1, sent a report to Charles V. of Spain that 
no gold or silver had been found and that the region 
was not even fit to colonize. Southward they went, 
harassed by the Indians, suffering from hunger, and 
losing many of their horses, until the company lost 
all discipline, and straggled helplessly towards the city 
of Mexico, in which about a hundred ragged fellows at 
length appeared, the miserable remnant of the gallant 
cavalcade which had set out with such high hopes two 
years before. Coronado was looked upon with dis- 
dain, as having come back with empty hands, yet the 
courage and resolution of the man who had explored 
the vast interior of the continent from Mexico to 
central Kansas was in reality worthy of the highest 
applause. 



IN AMERICA 129 



JACQUES CARTIER AND THE DISCOV- 
ERY OF THE ST. LAWRENCE 

As will be seen from the stories so far told, Spain 
kept wonderfully busy in the work of exploration in 
the half-century succeeding the discovery of America. 
Gold was the beacon that led the Spaniards on to the 
conquest and settlement of the South. During much 
of the same period France had been busy in the North, 
fish, instead of gold, luring them across the seas. 

The tale brought back by the Cabots of the vast 
multitude of codfish found in the northern waters was 
not lost on the hardy fishers of Brittany and Nor- 
mandy, and not many years passed after the discovery 
of America before these daring mariners were crossing 
the ocean in search of this great wealth of fish. 
From that time to the present the waters of New- 
foundland have been haunts of daring fishermen. 

One trace of their early presence exists in the 
island of Cape Breton, named by them from Brittany. 
As early as 1506 one of these men, named John Denys, 
explored and drew a map of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 
Other vessels than those of France crossed the waters, 
and in 15 17 we hear of some fifty vessels of various 
nations seeking the finny wealth of the West. A letter 
written by an English captain in 1527 says that he 
found in the harbor of St. John, Newfoundland, 
eleven sail of Norman and one of Breton fishermen. 

It is with one of these men with whom we are here 
concerned, Jacques Cartier, a hardy mariner of St. 
Malo, France, who had made several voyages to the 
fishing banks, and who in 1534 was selected by the 



i 3 o HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

French king to head a voyage of discovery to these 
western waters. 

On the 20th of April, 1534, Carder's expedition, 
consisting of two small vessels, left the harbor of St. 
Malo, and, driven by favoring winds, in twenty days 
reached the shores of Newfoundland. After sailing 
almost around this island, he entered the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence, and followed its coast to the inlet of Gaspe, 
where on July 24 he planted a lofty cross, bearing a 
shield with the fleur-de-lys of France. He continued 
up the bay until August 9, when he found himself in 
the mouth of a noble river, whose opposite sides could 
barely be seen. Not prepared to winter in that cold 
climate, he now set sail for France, taking with him 
two of the natives. Early in September he was back 
in St. Malo harbor, and France was ringing with the 
fame of his discovery. 

Early in the following year he was off again, now 
with three good ships, well manned, its company in- 
cluding some of the young nobles of France. He was 
to explore the river he had found, establish a colony 
if he could, and trade with the natives for gold, if he 
found any in their hands. The voyage was stormy, 
but on August 10 the adventurers were once more in 
the Gulf, to which they gave the name of St. Law- 
rence, the patron saint of that day. Entering the 
broad river, to which the same name was afterwards 
given, Cartier sailed boldly up its waters, his vessels 
viewed with amazement by the startled natives on its 
forested shores, and after a few days came to anchor 
near the locality where the city of Quebec now stands. 
It was then the site of an Indian village called Sta- 
dacona, many of whose inhabitants fled in terror to the 
forest as the " winged canoes" came to rest and let 
fall their sails. 



IN AMERICA 131 

The chief, Donacona by name, was evidently ad- 
vised of the coming of the ships and may have heard 
of their visit the year before. In a short time he 
came out to them with a fleet of twelve canoes, filled 
with armed warriors. Ten of these held back, while 
two of them glided up to the side of the nearest ship, 
where the chief began an oration in his own tongue. 
Cartier was able to converse with him by the aid of 
the two Gaspe Indians, whom he had taken to Europe 
the year before, and who now had some knowledge of 
French. 

What the wary chief wished to learn was whether 
the strangers came for peace or war. On learning 
that their purpose was peace he was quite ready to 
meet them half way, and soon an amicable state of 
affairs was established between the red sons of the 
forest and the white sons of the sea. Learning from 
Donacona that a larger Indian town, by name Hoche- 
laga, lay several days' journey up the river, Cartier 
determined to visit it in one of his ships, leaving the 
others at anchor where they lay. The savages looked 
on with wonder and admiration while the anchor was 
raised, the sails were set, and the vessel began to glide 
gracefully through the ruffled waters. But their feel- 
ing was changed to abject terror when the great guns 
roared from the ship's sides, their thunders reverber- 
ating from the surrounding hills. 

Having thus impressed the frightened natives with 
the power of the whites, Cartier proceeded up the 
stream in the " Hermerillon." The shallowness of the 
waters forcing him to leave this vessel in Lake St. 
Peter, he continued his journey in two boats, all the 
natives he met proving very friendly. A lover of na- 
ture, Cartier viewed the shifting landscape with deep 
gratification ; its primeval forests, luxuriant in foliage, 



132 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

here and there presenting great sweeps of clustering 
vines, loaded with ripe clusters of grapes; the noble 
river, on whose bosom floated great flocks of water- 
fowl; the strange notes of the whippoorwill and of 
other birds that flitted through the trees; the bright 
autumn sunshine, the still clear nights, all filling him 
with delight. And with this was mingled the proud 
thought that he was the pioneer of civilization in that 
land, whose marvels no white man had gazed upon 
before. 

On the 2d of October the boats arrived opposite 
Hochelaga, a village of the Huron Indians, the people 
of which lined the shore, making friendly signs, and 
inviting the whites in the language of gesture to land. 
Supplies of fish and maize were freely offered, for 
which the visitors gave knives and beads in exchange. 
Cartier prudently decided to pass the night in his 
boats, but on the following morning, dressed in the 
most imposing costume he possessed, he led his men 
in procession to the village, near which the sachem met 
him with gracious courtesy, though with the gravity 
of his race. Cartier gave him a number of presents 
and hung a cross round his neck, directing him to 
kiss it. 

The village was not extensive, consisting of about 
fifty huts, which were strongly built and defended by 
three lines of stout palisades. Around it were fields 
of ripe corn, the chief food plant of the Indians. The 
friendliness of the chief and his followers was not 
assumed. They appeared to regard their white visi- 
tors as beings of a superior race, and, conducting them 
to their council lodge, they brought in their sick to be 
healed by these beneficent and powerful beings. The 
most that Cartier could do was to pray with the un- 
tutored natives, and invest their sick with the cross, 



IN AMERICA 133 

trusting that it would have some efficacy in healing 
them. 

The ceremonies over, Cartier ascended a lofty hill 
which lay behind Hochelaga, giving it the name of 
Mont Real, a name which survives in Montreal. From 
a point near its summit he gazed with admiration over 
a noble prospect of woods and waters, hills rising at 
intervals, while lakes studded with green islands di- 
versified the extended view. He saw here in imagina- 
tion a future prosperous community, of which he 
would figure as the pioneer. 

The natives, untutored as they were, had considera- 
ble knowledge of the geography of their country, and 
regaled his ears with stories of the course of their 
majestic river, and of the immense lakes through which 
it ran, the most distant being like a vast sea. It would 
take them, they said, three months to pass through 
these great waters in their canoes, and still beyond 
was another noble river that ran through a region 
free from ice and snow. 

In the course of these waters was a place where a 
broad stream poured down in a mighty cataract. They 
also spoke of a great expanse of water to the north, 
doubtless that of Hudson Bay, and gave some imper- 
fect account of the country to the south. As for silver 
and gold, they had none of these precious metals, 
though they had some knowledge of copper and of 
where it could be found. 

Friendly as the Hurons of Hochelaga showed them- 
selves and warmly as they pressed their visitors to 
remain, the approach of winter warned Cartier to re- 
turn, and after a brief stay the visitors sought their 
boats, which the Indians followed for some distance 
down the stream, making signs of farewell. So far 
they had found only friendliness among the natives, 



134 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

and were not prepared for a sudden attack that was 
soon after made upon them by a band of hostile In- 
dians, while spending the night on shore. Only a 
hasty retreat to the boats saved their lives, Cartier's 
boatswain rescuing him from imminent peril of death. 

Regaining their ships, Cartier and his followers 
wintered in the St. Charles River, the people of Sta- 
dacona supplying them with provisions and maintain- 
ing their friendliness throughout. But they suffered 
severely from the intense cold of the Canadian winter, 
against which they were ill provided with clothing. 
The dreaded disease of scurvy also broke out among 
them, and quickly carried off twenty-five of their num- 
ber. It might have been far more fatal, but that an 
Indian who had been cured of it showed them where 
to find a remedy. This seems to have been a decoc- 
tion of the bark of the spruce-fir, which restored the 
remainder of the sick to health. 

The close of the long and severe winter and the 
breaking up of the thick river ice were hailed with 
delight, and the adventurers prepared to return home. 
They had no gold to show, nor any valuables of other 
kinds, but they had made important discoveries from 
which France was to profit much in the future. A 
cross bearing the arms of his country was erected by 
Cartier, its inscription declaring Francis I. to be the 
rightful king of this new-found realm, to which the 
discoverer gave the name of New France. 

So far all had gone on well and honorably, but the 
sequel gave the natives an example of that treachery 
from which they so often suffered at the hands of 
the whites. Cartier requited the natives of Stadacona 
for their hospitable kindness with the basest ingrati- 
tude. Luring Donacona on board his ship, he detained 
him, with two other chiefs and eight warriors who 



IN AMERICA 135 

accompanied him, and set sail for France. Here the 
most or all of these unfortunates died within a year 
after their arrival. 

Though Cartier had discovered a noble river, with 
fertile banks, it was in a land destitute of precious 
metals or gems and in which the winters were of in- 
tense severity. Colonists were not ready to settle in 
such a climate, and four years passed before another 
expedition was sent out. In 1540 Francis, Lord of 
Roberval, fitted out a number of ships, of which Car- 
tier was appointed chief pilot and captain-general. He 
again sailed up the St. Lawrence to Stadacona, but the 
stolen chief was not with him and the old friendliness 
of the natives was gone. 

Finding that he had made foes of his former friends, 
he went higher up the river to Cape Rouge, and here 
built a fort, sending two of his five vessels back to 
France for supplies. Here he spent a second winter 
in the old discomfort, and during the following sum- 
mer searched the country widely for gold. A few 
trifling specimens were found, and some small dia- 
monds picked up on a headland which he named Cape 
Diamond, but the country failed to respond to the 
hopes of the adventurers, and Cartier, not receiving 
the supplies for which he had sent, and not caring to 
spend another winter in that bitter climate, set sail 
for home. 

On his way back he put into the harbor of St. John, 
Newfoundland, and there found Roberval, with a new 
company and an abundance of stores. Roberval, who 
had been appointed viceroy of New France and had 
high hopes of a prosperous career, earnestly begged 
Cartier to go back with him, but the pioneer had seen 
enough of Canadian winters and decisively refused. 
That night, fearing that the viceroy might seek to de- 



136 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

tain him, he secretly weighed anchor, slipped out of the 
harbor, and headed away for France, which he reached 
in due time. 

The hardships of the winters already passed in Can- 
ada seem to have been too much for Cartier's health, 
for he died soon after his return. Roberval's later ca- 
reer was nearly as brief. After spending a winter in 
Canada, he returned home, and some time after started 
with another expedition which the ocean seemingly 
swallowed, as it was never heard of again. More than 
fifty years were to pass before a successful colony 
would be planted in New France. 



IN AMERICA 137 



JEAN RIBAULT AND THE HUGUENOTS 
IN FLORIDA 

In 1562, nearly thirty years after Carrier sailed up 
the St. Lawrence, another French expedition came to 
the shores of the New World, seeking the balmy south 
instead of the frosty north. It was in the charming 
month of May that the sea-tossed voyagers reached 
land on the coast of Florida and sailed into the noble 
St. John's River, which, from the time of its discov- 
ery, they named the River of May. All they saw filled 
them with delight. There were forests of mulberry- 
trees covered with caterpillars, but these they mistook 
for silk-worms, and dreamed dreams of a great silk 
industry. Proceeding up the coast they came to the 
spacious Port Royal harbor, which they took to be the 
outlet of a broad and noble stream. So deep was it, 
they said, that the greatest ships known could anchor 
safely in its waters, while the pines near at hand fur- 
nished pitch for their ships, and the moss which cov- 
ered the tallest trees of the coast served them in place 
of oakum. 

It was religious persecution that sent these emi- 
grants across the seas. They were Protestants, or 
Huguenots, who had suffered much from their Cath- 
olic enemies in France, and were seeking a place of 
refuge in the New World. Their leader was Jean 
Ribault, a brave captain of Dieppe, France, and on his 
vessels were some of the young nobility of France, 
members of the Protestant party. The famous Ad- 



138 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

miral Coligny had sent them abroad, that they might 
found an empire in the New World where they could 
worship God in safety in their own way. 

Ribault was not prepared to plant a colony on these 
new shores, but he erected a monument of stone en- 
graved with the arms of France, and left twenty-six 
men to hold the spot for France till he should return. 
The fort he built was named Fort Carolina in honor 
of Charles IX. of France. It has given its name to 
two of the American States. 

Ribault expected to return without delay with sup- 
plies and colonists, but when his ships reached France 
he found that the Catholics and Huguenots were at 
war, and it was impossible just then to return to the 
aid of the pioneer party he had left. After looking 
to sea for months for the promised sails and seeing 
nothing but the unbroken waves, the soldiers lost 
heart. They grew sullen and hard to manage; their 
commander was harsh and hot tempered, and his cru- 
elty to the men gave rise to a mutiny in which he was 
killed. 

Where was Ribault? Would he never return? 
Weary with waiting, they began to build themselves 
a vessel in which they could go back to France, and 
so eager were they to reach their old homes that they 
set sail with not half the needed stores. Fortunately 
an English vessel met them when famine was busy 
among them. Those who were nearest death from 
starvation were set on shore in France. The strong- 
est were taken to England. And thus ended the first 
attempt to plant a French colony in the south. 

In 1564 France was at peace again and a second ex- 
pedition was sent out, this time under a mariner named 
Laudonniere, who had been with Ribault in the former 
voyage. Sixty days' journey brought the fleet to Flor- 



IN AMERICA 139 

ida, and this time the emigrants were landed on the 
banks of the River of May. Port Royal had proved a 
scene of suffering and misfortune, and they avoided 
it in favor of this verdant and beautiful situation. 
They built a fort which, like the former, they named 
Fort Carolina, and gave vent to their joy in a hymn 
of thanksgiving. They little dreamed that before 
them lay the most terrible and ruthless tragedy 
known in our history. The story has been often 
told, but, brutal as it is, we are obliged to tell it 
once more. 

At first all was full of cheer and promise to the 
colonists. The air was sweet and balmy, nature was 
replete with enchanting scenes, the soil was richly fer- 
tile; it seemed a western paradise. The natives re- 
ceived the strangers with warm greetings and hospi- 
table hands. The French, full of joy, raised a monu- 
ment with a crown of laurel on its top and baskets of 
corn around its base. There seemed no reason, except 
in the nature of man himself, that the new colony 
should not be one of success and happiness. 

Unfortunately, though religion had prompted the 
expedition, many of those taking part in it were dis- 
solute men, with no religion in their hearts and no 
wisdom in their heads. They wasted their supplies 
of food; they robbed the natives and turned them 
from friends into enemies; they rebelled against their 
leaders; and a party of them, pretending that they 
wished to escape from famine, made Laudonniere sign 
an order permitting them to take ship and sail to New 
Spain. What they really wished to do was to turn 
pirates and prey on Spanish commerce. Luckily for 
honest mariners, they met with ill-fortune, their vessel 
being taken and they made prisoners. The few who 
escaped in a boat had to put in at Fort Carolina, and 



i 4 o HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

Laudonniere taught them a lesson by hanging the 
ringleaders. 

While this went on the colony fell into a desperate 
state. The natives would neither give nor sell them 
food, they had wasted their own, no supplies came 
from France, and for months the colonists had almost 
no food save that which the forest supplied. When 
May of the next year arrived they determined to build 
the best vessels they could and do their utmost to get 
home to France. In August, while they were still at 
work, help came to them. Sir John Hawkins, an Eng- 
lishman of title who had turned slave merchant, ar- 
rived in their harbor. He had just sold a cargo of 
negroes in the West Indies whom he had stolen in 
Africa, and was on his way home with the money won 
is this terrible trade. 

Cruel as he had been to the blacks, he was full of 
kindness for the suffering whites. He gave them a 
good supply of provisions, and also a vessel from his 
fleet, in place of the wretched brigantines they were 
building. Soon afterwards, when they were almost 
ready to set sail, to their delight a squadron of French 
ships sailed into the harbor. At their head was Jean 
Ribault, who had come out to take command of the 
colony, bringing with him provisions, garden seeds, 
farming tools, domestic animals, and new emigrants. 
All was joy, their sufferings were forgotten, they felt 
sure of making themselves a happy home on Flor- 
ida's verdant soil. Yet, unknown to them, the terrible 
tragedy which was to come upon them was now very 
close at hand. 

The leading cause of this event was that Frenchmen 
had settled on land claimed by Spaniards, heretics on 
soil claimed by sons of the church. The Spaniards had 
deserted Florida twenty years before, but Spain still 



IN AMERICA 141 

held that Florida was hers, and that Florida extended 
north as far as the seas of ice. It was not until 1565 
that they attempted to take possession again. Then a 
daring and cruel adventurer, Pedro Menendez by 
name, who had grown rich in the usual ways of the 
Spanish-Americans, offered to conquer Florida for 
the king, he to be made its governor. 

He was preparing his expedition when news came to 
Spain that a colony of French Huguenots had settled 
in Florida. Menendez at once declared that all these 
heretics must be killed. In this way it happened that 
about the time that Ribault left France to visit his col- 
ony, Menendez left Spain to destroy these colonists. 
He had a large fleet, in which there were more than 
twenty-five hundred persons, soldiers, sailors, priests, 
and emigrants, the greatest expedition Spain had ever 
sent to the New World. 

He met with a tempest on his way and two-thirds of 
his ships were scattered over the seas, but with the re- 
mainder he reached Florida shortly after Ribault had 
put into the River of May. It was on August 28, St. 
Augustine's day in the Roman Church, that he came 
in sight of the coast. A few days later he discovered a 
fine harbor and beautiful river, and gave them the 
name of St. Augustine. Here still stands the city of 
St. Augustine, founded by him, and the oldest city in 
the United States. 

After deciding on this place for his settlement, he 
sailed north to where the French fleet lay at anchor. 
" Who are you and what do you want ?" he was asked. 
" I am Menendez of Spain," he replied. " My king 
has sent me to put to death all the Protestants in this 
region. The Catholics among you I will spare ; every 
heretic shall die." 

Ribault was taken by surprise and was not ready to 



142 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

fight, so he cut the cables of his fleet and put to sea, 
outsailing the Spaniards, who followed him. As they 
could not overtake him they returned to St. Augustine, 
landing and taking possession in the name of the king. 
Philip II. of Spain was proclaimed the sovereign of 
all North America. 

Meanwhile the French were in a state of indecision. 
What should they do; stay where they were and de- 
fend themselves against the Spaniards, or put to sea 
and attack them ? Unluckily, against the advice of his 
officers, Ribault resolved upon the latter course. It 
might have succeeded, but the elements were against 
him. He had not long left the harbor when a fearful 
storm burst upon his fleet, driving the ships before it 
and hurling them upon the coast, every vessel being 
wrecked. Most of the men reached the shore, but the 
entire fleet fell a prey to the waves. The Spanish 
ships escaped with much less loss. 

It was a terrible misfortune for the Huguenots, who 
were now at the mercy of their foes. Menendez led 
his men overland upon their fort, attacked and cap- 
tured it, and put to death every soul found in it, not 
only the soldiers, but the aged and sick, the women 
and children, nearly two hundred in all being ruth- 
lessly massacred. Only Laudonniere and a few 
others, who had fled to the woods, escaped. Some of 
these gave themselves up to the Spaniards and were 
instantly murdered. The others succeeded in reach- 
ing two small French vessels still in the harbor, and in 
the end made their way to France with the story of the 
massacre. 

Meanwhile Ribault and his shipwrecked men were 
seeking to make their way through the forest towards 
Fort Carolina, of the fate of whose garrison they knew 
nothing. A party of them, about two hundred in num- 



IN AMERICA 143 

ber, were met by messengers from Menendez while 
halting at Matanzas Inlet, with promises of safety and 
good treatment if they should surrender. They were 
also told of the capture of the fort. There seemed but 
one thing to do, if they would escape starvation. They 
yielded and were ferried across the stream, ten at a 
time. As each detachment landed they were led be- 
hind a sand hill and their hands tied behind their 
backs. 

When they were all thus helplessly in the hands of 
their foes they were questioned, and those who said 
they were Catholics or mechanics were led aside. Then 
a signal from Menendez was given, the trumpets 
sounded, the drums were beaten, and the Spanish sol- 
diers, sword in hand, fell upon the helpless captives, 
cutting them down until not a man of them remained 
alive and the soil was deeply stained with their blood. 

" We do this to you not as Frenchmen, but as Luth- 
erans," said the ruthless Menendez. 

A day or two later Ribault, with three hundred and 
fifty men, the remainder of the shipwrecked crews, ap- 
peared at the inlet and were met in the same way. 
Ribault and one hundred and fifty of his men, de- 
spairing of escape, agreed to surrender and were fer- 
ried across and bound and massacred like their com- 
rades. The other two hundred, vowing that they 
would not trust the word of a Spaniard, slipped away 
into the forest and nothing more was ever heard of 
them. Thus ended the bloodiest deed of treachery and 
murder ever perpetrated on American soil, one which 
ever since has been a foul blot on the honor of Spain. 

It might be thought that when tidings of this atroc- 
ity reached France the nation would have risen as one 
man to avenge its slaughtered sons. But these were 
Protestants, heretics; they had no right to live; and 



144 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

the government let the deed of blood pass without a 
protest. Not so one of its sons, Dominic de Gourges, 
a bold Gascon soldier, a good Catholic, but a man 
who held that the honor of France had been tarnished, 
and that blood was more than creed. He determined 
to avenge the murder and redeem his country's honor. 

De Gourges sold his property and borrowed what 
he could from his friends, and with the proceeds 
equipped three ships. Then, on August 22, 1567, he 
sailed for Florida with one hundred and fifty armed 
men, not to found a peaceful colony, but to avenge the 
slaughtered colonists. Reaching the mouth of the 
St. John's River, he took by surprise two small forts 
which the Spaniards had built there. The garrison 
of the large fort heard of his coming and were filled 
with terror, thinking that he had a large force of men. 
This stronghold, built near where Fort Carolina had 
stood, was soon in his hands, most of its defenders 
being killed. He took revenge for the massacre of the 
Huguenots by hanging the remainder upon the neigh- 
boring trees, placing over them the following words: 
" I do this not as unto Spaniards or mariners, but as 
unto liars and murderers." 

Then he sailed back to France, sorry no doubt but 
for one thing, that he had not caught the arch-mur- 
derer, Menendez, to hang him highest of all. 



IN AMERICA 145 



MARTIN FROBISHER AND THE NORTH- 
WEST PASSAGE 

It is certainly a little singular that the busy and 
bustling people of England, who in the later centuries 
became the most active of all in the work of discovery 
and colonization, should in the early days have shown 
so little interest in the great new continent, which the 
Spanish were busy in exploring and settling, and in the 
investigation of which the French were showing con- 
siderable activity. After the voyage of the Cabots, — 
Venetians whom Henry VII. graciously " permitted" 
to go to America, — eighty years passed before another 
ship left the shores of England on a voyage of dis- 
covery. Ships crossed the ocean it is true, but these 
were privateers or pirates, in search of the rich gal- 
leons of Spain, or fishing boats seeking the fertile 
banks of Newfoundland. None of them carried dis- 
coverers or colonists. 

We must go forward to the year 1576 for the first 
voyage of discovery from England after that of the 
Cabots. In that year Martin Frobisher, a sailor of un- 
usual daring and enterprise, set sail upon the western 
seas. What he was seeking was not discovery in 
America, but a waterway by the north to China. In 
1553 Sir Hugh Willoughby had endeavored to reach 
China by sailing northeast around the continents of 
Europe and Asia. Frobisher's purpose was to sail 
northwest in search of a passage around the continent 
of America. His goal was that northwest passage 
which men long continued to seek but which no ship 
passed until that of Amundsen in 1905. 



146 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

In his mind this was " the only thing in the world 
that was yet left undone" by which fame might be 
won. Little did Frobisher know how many things 
were left undone. Too poor to buy a ship for him- 
self, it took him years to get any one to help him. 
Then Dudley, earl of Warwick, came to his aid. In 
the month of June, 1576, his little fleet, consisting of 
two small barks and a pinnace, set sail on the Thames, 
Queen Elizabeth kindly waving the mariners a fare- 
well — it was all she did for the enterprise. 

The little pinnace, of ten tons burden, went to the 
bottom in a storm. The sailors on one of the ships, 
frightened at the wild waves, turned about and sailed 
back home. With the other, a vessel of twenty-five 
tons, — not much larger than the barge of a man-of- 
war, — the dauntless Frobisher kept on. He reached at 
length the barren shores of Labrador. Sailing north 
from here, he found a passage or inlet which opened 
into a strait. He was now among a group of islands 
in the latitude of 63 ° N. Hopeful that this lane of 
water might lead to the Pacific he sailed westward, 
venturing into this realm of the icy north far beyond 
the goal of any former navigator. 

But his voyage ended in failure. Lost in labyrinthine 
passages, he was at length forced to turn back, with 
nothing to show but a native of the country and some 
stones he had gathered in proof that he hac\jtaken 
possession in the queen's name. 

These stones led to an unlooked-for result. In those 
days America was a synonyme for gold-mines, and 
when word came from a London refiner that one of 
the stones brought by Frobisher contained gold there 
was an instant excitement. The very word gold was 
enough to fill men's minds with visions of unfathom- 
able wealth. Possibly the fabled El Dorado lay in the 



IN AMERICA 147 

frozen north instead of the sunny south. There were 
those who wanted to lease the new lands from 
the queen, and the fleet that was quickly fitted out 
had for its goal, not the Pacific, but the hoped-for 
mines. 

Gold ! it was like rich food to the hungry. The 
queen, who had given nothing to the former expedi- 
tion but a wave of her august hand, now fitted out a 
ship at her own expense, in hope of wealth unmeas- 
ured. Others did the same, till there was quite a fleet. 
As for mariners and adventurers, far more offered 
than the ships could hold, and those who were left 
behind felt that they had been robbed of fortune. 
Finally, in May, 1577, the hopeful party set out for 
the new El Dorado " with a merrie wind." 

Reaching America, the fleet of ships sailed into a 
throng of icebergs, and for a time the dread of ship- 
wreck and death drove from their minds the thirst for 
gold. Fortunately they were in the summer of the 
north, a season of almost perpetual day, and the perils 
surrounding them could be seen and avoided. Into 
the strait formerly traversed by Frobisher he sailed 
again, though not as deeply as before. He and those 
with him were no longer thinking of China, but of 
richer spoil than the East could give, and the land they 
reached held large heaps of earth which promised the 
wealtl they coveted. Spiders were there, in multi- 
tudes, and they had heard that " spiders were true 
signs of a great store of gold." The greedy crews has- 
tened to freight their ships with this questionable sub- 
stance, Frobisher working as eagerly as the meanest 
.among his men. 

What the goldsmiths of London had to say about 
this spider-haunted earth we are not told, but in the 
next year the gold-thirst was far from being quenched, 



148 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

and the finest fleet ever yet sent across the ocean, fif- 
teen sail in all, was despatched under the command of 
Frobisher to bring back a cargo of the gold-bearing 
rocks. This was not all. A colony was to be formed 
in the realm over which frost reigned as king, a hun- 
dred men being sent for this purpose. What though 
no tree, not even a shrub, grew on those barren shores ! 
Glistening gold lay there in heaps, enough to make 
England the richest of lands, and this wealth must 
be seized and held for Britain and its queen. 

Elizabeth now paid a good share towards the fleet, 
there were soldiers as well as sons of the gentry among 
the colonists, and three of the ships were to be left 
with them, while twelve returned with cargoes of the 
shining ore. Nobody cared now about the northwest 
passage and the riches of China. The land of gold 
that glistened in their eyes banished the wealth of 
-Asia from their vision. 

Gayly onward went the fleet, blown by the winds of 
hope. But trouble lay before the ships, which, when 
they neared the western coasts, became lost amid a 
multitude of icebergs, some of them vast in size, and, 
as they melted under the midsummer sun, pouring tor- 
rents of sparkling water down their glassy sides. The 
tumbling ice crushed and sunk one vessel, its crew 
being with difficulty saved. In the train of the ice 
came blinding mists, and the ships went astray, en- 
tering what is now known as Hudson Strait, instead 
of the passage they sought. 

Frobisher was delighted with this broad opening, 
which he thought must surely lead to the Pacific, but 
he was not sent to win glory as a discoverer, but to 
gather gold, and he sailed hither and thither in search 
of the gold-laden isles, often in danger from ice and 
rocks, once very near shipwreck, but finally reaching 



IN AMERICA 149 

the haven he sought, in the Countess of Warwick's 
Sound. 

By this time sailors and colonists had lost all their 
enthusiasm. The latter had no taste for this world of 
chill desolation; the former were ready to mutiny. 
One vessel, carrying food for the colonists, stole away 
and set its sails for England's shores. The others 
reached an island on which was enough of the black 
ore they sought " to suffice all the gold-gluttons in the 
world." All thought of forming a colony was now 
given up. The crews set themselves eagerly to load- 
ing the ships with these precious stones, and back they 
sailed with glowing visions of enjoyment from the 
wealth beneath their feet. 

We are sorry that so promising a story should end 
so flatly as this one must. Many of our readers may 
have read tales that seemed cut off short at the end, 
leaving the finish of the plot untold. So it is with this. 
The stone-laden fleet got back to England, and there 
the story ends. Not a word more is told us. The his- 
torians of the voyage say nothing about what was 
done with the cargoes, around which so many warm 
hopes centred. No doubt it was mere " fool's gold" 
they carried, and they were ashamed to tell the world 
that they had been fools. No doubt the goldsmiths now 
found that the black ore held no yellow metal in its 
crevices. All we know is that the story here breaks 
off, and silence reigns. Likely enough there were bit- 
ter maledictions of the hasty refiner whose false cry 
of gold in the stones sent them on a costly and hopeless 
quest, but all we can say is that no more ships were 
sent out to the polar regions in search of gold, for no 
more is told us. 

Frobisher went to the north no more, but he firmly 
believed that a short route to China and the East lay 



150 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

amid those channels he had traversed. He was not 
alone in this belief, and the plan he had conceived was 
pursued by another bold mariner seven years after his 
return. This was John Davis, or Davys, a seaman 
who had won reputation for skill and daring, and 
whom the British government sent out in 1585 for the 
same purpose that had taken Frobisher to the north- 
ern seas on his first voyage. He was not sent for gold, 
— Queen Elizabeth and her court had lost faith in polar 
gold, — but to seek for a route to Asia by way of the 
northwest. 

Davis had no better fortune than Frobisher, though 
he sailed much farther north than any man had done 
before him, and became the pioneer in polar discovery. 
Sailing around the southern cape of Greenland, he 
shaped his course up the west coast of this great island, 
which he justly named Desolation. He found, how- 
ever, " many green and pleasant islands bordering the 
shore," and a sea free of ice. Heading now northwest- 
wardly in hopes of reaching China, he came upon a 
westward shore in latitude 66°. In this a broad open- 
ing, now named Cumberland Strait, yawned before 
him, and along it he went for about one hundred 
miles. Then, as the season was growing late and ice 
beginning to form, he turned his prow homeward for 
Merrie England. 

Davis had found enough to raise hopes of finding 
more, and he was sent out again in 1586 and 1587. In 
the latter year, sailing in a little vessel of twenty tons, 
he entered the wide passage now known as Davis 
Strait, and emerged into the broad sea called Baffin 
Bay, keeping on till he attained the high latitude of 
73 . The natives came' out in their skin canoes, and 
by their signs he judged that there was a wide sea to 
the north. The waters he was in were free of ice, and 



IN AMERICA 151 

hope blossomed in his heart. But as he went on, ice 
blocked his way, and a fierce north wind assailed his 
little craft. Discouraged by this, and by the loss of 
some men he had left behind to fish, he gave up the 
attempt and sailed for home. Thus ended the polar 
work of the father of Arctic discovery. 

Yet Davis felt sure that the pathway to Asia lay 
in the track he had followed. He named the farthest 
point he reached the Cape of God's Mercy, in the fond 
belief that the northwest passage led that way. He 
found the sea he had reached free of ice, and the air 
tolerable, and he went on with the curious argument 
that the climate at the pole must be delightful, and 
that the people dwelling there " have a wonderful ex- 
cellency and an exceeding prerogative above all na- 
tions, for they are in perpetual light and never know 
what darkness meaneth, by the benefit of twilight and 
full moons." What he said agreed with his summer 
experience, but later explorers have not found the polar 
region a realm of delightful climate and richly favored 
people. 

We may close this record of early polar discovery 
with the story of William Baffin, who went to the seas 
of ice twenty-five years after Davis, and like his two 
predecessors made three voyages to those waters, these 
being in 161 2, 161 5, and 1616. He was seeking the 
northwest passage which Davis fancied he had found, 
and in his last voyage entered and explored the large 
basin between Greenland and the western isles now 
known as Baffin Bay. Both Davis and Baffin spent 
lives of adventure after these voyages north, and both 
were killed in the Eastern seas. 



1 52 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 



SIR FRANCIS DRAKE IN THE TRACK OF 
MAGELLAN 

It is not much to the credit of England in the reign 
of Queen Elizabeth that some of the famous mariners 
of that showy reign were what we would call pirates 
in our day. Chief among these was Sir Francis Drake, 
the sea-king, who became illustrious by a course of 
what we must designate as splendid piracy, for it 
consisted in robbing the ships and settlements of 
Spain, with which country his nation was at peace. 
Oxenham, who followed in his path, was caught by the 
Spaniards and hung, and no one in England had a 
word to say against it. But Drake covered his crime 
against the law of nations by the glamour of brilliant 
deeds and glittering success. So no one called him a 
pirate, and the queen was glad to make the bold rover 
a knight of her realm, while she laughed behind her 
fan at the protests of Spain. As Drake was a dis- 
coverer and explorer, as well as a rover, his story 
must be told here. 

Having made himself a terror to the Spaniards of 
Mexico and the West Indies and crossed the isthmus 
to the walls of Panama, taking treasure everywhere 
with a free hand, the daring rover determined on a feat 
far surpassing the exploits of any of his rivals. He 
would sail to the Pacific and take golden toll from the 
galleons and cities of Spain in that ocean on whose 
waters none but Spanish ships had ever been seen. 

In 1577 he sailed from Plymouth, England, with a 
fleet of five ships, bound for Peru and a golden mar- 
ket. By October of the next year he found himself 



IN AMERICA 153 

with a single ship, the " Golden Hind," in waters 
which no keel had ever troubled, those of Cape Horn. 
His other ships had been lost or left behind, and of his 
crews only some sixty men remained, but he went on 
with as undaunted a heart as though he were still 
admiral of a gallant fleet. 

Avoiding the Straits of Magellan, where Spaniards 
might be met and his coming made known, he ven- 
tured into new waters, his little craft daring the perils 
of the Horn, on whose rocky coast he was the first 
man to set foot. Then, stretching up into the broad 
Pacific, the adventurers sailed on until the coast of 
Chile lay before them. They were nearing the land of 
golden promise. Here on the hills sheep and cattle 
browsed and corn and potatoes grew, there being every 
sign of a prosperous community. 

After some dealings with the Indians, a chief came 
on board, who told them that a large galleon, richly 
freighted with treasure, lay ready to sail in the harbor 
of Valparaiso, to the south of where they were. Bit- 
terly hating the Spaniards, he was quite ready to pilot 
their foes, and within a brief time the " Golden Hind" 
sailed into the harbor, and Drake, to his delight, saw 
the treasure-ship at anchor. 

There was no suspicion in the Spanish crew. Never 
had foreign keel cut those waters before. Little heed 
was paid as the stranger craft glided alongside, and 
the crew awoke to their peril only when the English 
sailors, armed to the teeth, sprang over the bulwarks 
and leaped to the deck. Hardly a blow was exchanged 
as the captors drove the panic-stricken Spaniards head- 
long down the hatchway and took possession of the 
ship. A rich prize it proved, with a freightage in gold 
valued at one hundred and twenty thousand dollars 
and other valuable wares. Of Chile wine there were 



154 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

full two thousand jars, and in this the crew drank 
deeply to their victory. An armed force sent ashore 
raided the town, gathering more gold in houses and 
churches, and then the " Golden Hind" sailed in tri- 
umph away, much the richer for her cheap victory. 

Other treasure was picked up as they followed the 
coast northward, in one place a heavy weight in silver 
bars being taken from a surprised party of carriers. 
At Arica, a small coast town, Drake was told by an In- 
dian of a heavily laden galleon which had not long be- 
fore passed by, sailing northward. Here was another 
golden opportunity. All sail was made in pursuit, the 
admiral offering a heavy gold chain to the first man 
who should see the prize. The chain was won by his 
brother, John Drake, who soon after pointed to the 
sails of a great ship, still half hidden by the morning 
haze. 

Not dreaming of an enemy in those waters, the 
Spanish captain let the " Golden Hind" come close 
aboard, and signalled for its officers to visit him. They 
did, with an armed crew behind them, and before many 
minutes the captain and his men were under hatches, 
and the victors were adding richly to the wealth in 
gold and silver they had already taken. Then the 
Spanish captain and crew were set on shore and their 
ship left to the mercy of wind and wave, while the 
" Golden Hind" sailed triumphantly away. 

Wealth enough had been won in this easy way to 
make all on board rich, and Drake had some thoughts 
of turning his prow homeward. But up the coast, not 
far away, lay Lima, the capital of Peru, and he 
hoped here to add largely to his treasure-store. So 
onward gallantly bowled the " Golden Hind" until the 
port of this town was reached and the few ships that 
lay there were raided — little being obtained. 



r til f *• 

/ i* if «tf 1 




IN AMERICA 155 

As yet the career of the rovers had been like a 
golden holiday, but now the tide of fortune was to 
turn. A messenger sent from Valparaiso reached 
Lima with news of the dangerous craft on the coast, 
shortly after Drake had entered the harbor. The gov- 
ernor had supposed the stranger to be a Spanish pirate, 
and was making deliberate plans for its capture. 
Learning that it was a heavily armed English vessel 
on a raid for spoil, and already well laden with gold 
and silver, his movements gained new vigor. Gather- 
ing in all haste a large body of armed men, he led 
them to the port. 

Unluckily for the " Golden Hind," she lay in the 
offing in a dead calm, while a land breeze favored the 
two Spanish ships which the governor manned and 
took out, their crowded crews eager to take the rich 
prize that seemed to await them. There were anxious 
souls on board the " Golden Hind" just then. It was 
hopeless to fight those hundreds of armed Spaniards, 
and unless a wind reached them soon all would be lost. 

But luck changed for the rovers when the breeze 
that impelled the Spanish ships reached their sails, and 
the " Golden Hind " began slowly to move through the 
rippling water. Soon her sails filled with the freshen- 
ing breeze, and she swept more rapidly onward, keep- 
ing fair pace with her pursuers. 

On went the chase and the pursuit. Now the wind 
sank, now it rose, and the distance varied, the Span- 
iards at times coming near enough to reach the Eng- 
lish ships with their shots. The " Golden Hind" sailed 
well, but the Spanish ships did not lack speed, and it 
began to look as if the hitherto prosperous career of 
the British freebooters was at an end. 

Fortunately for the latter, the governor, in his haste, 
had neglected one matter of importance. He expected 



156 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

that a short run would bring him up to the English 
ship, and neglected to provision his craft. As a result 
the Spanish mariners found themselves without food, 
and the disappointed governor was obliged to give up 
the chase. He still had hopes, however, of capturing 
the audacious Englishman. On reaching Lima he has- 
tily provisioned his ships, and sent them out again, 
with a third added, in chase of the " Golden Hind/' 
But Admiral Drake was not the man to be caught 
after gaining such a start, and the pursuing Spaniards 
had seen their last of his ship. 

To this point the story of Francis Drake had not 
been one of discovery, but of what we can only desig- 
nate as piracy. To-day such a man would very likely 
have ended his career by being hung. But in those 
days nations looked on such matters differently, and 
success brought the bold freebooter high honor, as we 
shall see. We have now to follow Drake through his 
course of exploration and discovery. 

The Strait of Magellan was his nearest way home, 
but he feared that Spanish ships might be awaiting him 
there, and with his rich freight of gold he did not care 
to risk an encounter with his sixty men against possi- 
bly hundreds of foes. So he headed north with the 
forlorn hope of finding the northwest passage, of which 
Martin Frobisher was then in search, and reaching 
England by sailing round America in the north. We 
know to-day how hopeless this project was, but no one 
knew then. 

Up the South American coast the rovers sailed, still 
taking prizes and looting towns, their store of treas- 
ure growing as they went. Then the Isthmus of 
Panama was passed and the North American shores 
were reached. As April of the next year came and 
passed they left the land and stood boldly out to sea. 



IN AMERICA 157 

Drake fancied that the American coast ran in a straight 
line to the north, and wished to get a good seaway, but 
he was surprised, after sailing for some five weeks 
northwestwardly, to see land on his right. It must, he 
thought, be a large island, but after following it for 
many miles he became sure that he had struck the con- 
tinent again, and that the coast ran northwest instead 
of north. 

The coast he saw was that of California. He was 
not the first to discover it, for the Spaniards of Mex- 
ico had been there before him. But there were none 
of these foes there now, and the rovers found no in- 
habitants but Indians, — not semi-civilized ones like 
those of Mexico and Peru, but the simple and ignorant 
savages of the north. They proved to be very friendly, 
luckily for the mariners, for the much battered 
" Golden Hind" sprung a leak, and all the cargo had 
to be taken ashore and the ship thoroughly repaired. 

The harbor they had reached seems to have been that 
known as the Golden Gate, the entrance to the splendid 
bay of San Francisco. Drake and his men wisely kept 
on the best of terms with the Indians, making them 
presents and winning their favor to so great an extent 
that, when they saw that their white guests were about 
to leave, their hospitable souls were filled with grief. 
Tears flowed from their eyes, moans came from their 
lips, and they wrung their hands as if they had lost 
their dearest and best. As the ship glided majesti- 
cally away a large body of Indians gathered on the 
hillside, building bonfires as a farewell token to their 
departing friends, who waved their hats in return. 
Rarely have the whites dwelt long with the red men 
and parted from them in such amity. 

It was now the 23d of July, 1579. Northward sailed 
the rovers along the coast, hoping as they went to 



158 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

find some passage through which they could sail to 
the Atlantic. Little dreamed they that this ocean lay 
three thousand miles away, with mighty plains and 
mountain-chains between. Drake and his men were 
now in new waters and in the realm of new discovery, 
and the secrets of the land were all unknown. 

They kept on until they had skirted the whole west- 
ern coast of the present United States, their journey 
ending at about 48 ° north latitude, near the northern 
boundary-line of the great republic. But the passage 
Drake sought was not found; the season was ad- 
vancing and the air growing colder ; the passage to the 
east might lie thousands of miles northward still ; to 
go back through the Spanish seas was too dangerous ; 
finally the rover captain took a bold decision, the path 
that Magellan had followed lay open still, he would 
head his vessel westward across the broad Pacific and 
take her round the earth, being the first of men after 
Magellan to accomplish this glorious deed. 

Before leaving the American coast he landed and 
took possession of the region he had discovered in the 
name of Queen Elizabeth, christening it New Albion. 
Then, on the 29th of September, he spread his sails 
to the wind and stood out boldly into the Pacific's 
waves, heading for the far-away Moluccas in Asia's 
seas. 

The voyage was prosperous, the winds proving fa- 
vorable and the storms not serious, and after weeks 
in which only the rolling waves were seen, the sight of 
green hills met the glad view of the mariners. On 
the 4th of November the island of Ternate was 
reached, and the " Golden Hind" made harbor in the 
isles of spices, the verdant Moluccas. 

The king of Ternate gave the adventurers a warm 
welcome, and they spent three weeks in his hospitable 



IN AMERICA 159 

waters. But danger awaited them when they took to 
the sea again, for on December 10, when off the island 
of Celebes, the hitherto fortunate ship ran aground on 
a shelf of rocks. By good luck her bottom was not 
pierced and no water came through, but before they 
could get afloat again they had to throw overboard 
eight of their cannon, part of their provisions, and 
three tons of cloves which the Moluccas had added to 
their cargo. Thus lightened, the " Golden Hind" 
found water beneath her keel once more, and her 
course was shaped for the island of Java, where she 
was thoroughly overhauled. 

The lost spices had been replaced at a later isle, and 
on the 25th of March, 1580, the noble little ship set 
out on the last great portion of her long journey, head- 
ing for the Cape of Good Hope, which was reached on 
the 15th of June. She had on board then fifty-seven 
men, and three casks of water as a provision against 
thirst. On the 12th of July the equator was crossed, 
on the 1 6th fresh water was taken in on the coast of 
Guinea, and on the 26th of September English soil was 
sighted and the joyful adventurers beheld their na- 
tive land again, after an absence of nearly three 
years. 

Drake, the second to circumnavigate the globe, had 
been far more fortunate than Magellan, in reaching 
home in safety after his many perils, and with wealth 
enough on board to satisfy the desires of himself and 
all his men. Great was the joy with which the mari- 
ners were hailed, as they sailed in triumph into Ply- 
mouth harbor. What mattered in those days the rights 
and protests of Spain? The queen, after some hesita- 
tion, came down to Deptford, where the " Golden 
Hind" lay, shared in a banquet with her captain, and 
then knighted him as Sir Francis Drake, approving 



160 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

warmly of all he had done, and practically snapping 
her fingers at Spain. 

As for the people of England, they hailed the for- 
tunate freebooter as their greatest hero of the sea. It 
was not so much the gold he had gained as the bril- 
liancy of his exploits, the great daring with which, in 
his single small ship and with his three score of men, 
he had braved the Spaniards of the colonies and the 
perils of the two great oceans, that won him the hearty 
plaudits of his countrymen. The " Golden Hind " was 
ordered by the queen to be preserved as a monument to 
England's glory. But after a century passed it decayed 
and had to be broken up, a chair, made of its sound 
timber, and presented by Charles II. to the Oxford 
University, being all that was left of the good little 
ship. 



IN AMERICA 161 



SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT, HIS FAILURE 
AND HIS FATE 

While Martin Frobisher was seeking for mines of 
gold in the frozen soil of the Arctic zone, and Francis 
Drake was getting gold in the easier way of robbing 
Spanish ships and towns, other English adventurers 
were engaged in the more laudable enterprise of try- 
ing to found colonies on the shores of the New World. 
Several such efforts were made before one succeeded, 
and as these efforts have their place in the story of 
American exploration, we shall tell the tales of the 
several earnest men engaged in them. 

First in the list, after Frobisher's hopeless effort to 
plant a gold-mining colony on the northern isles of ice, 
comes Sir Humphrey Gilbert, a gallant soldier of 
Queen Elizabeth's wars. When the wars ended and 
Gilbert's sword was thrown out of business, his active 
mind turned to another field of enterprise. At that 
time the Grand Banks of Newfoundland were thronged 
with fishermen, fully four hundred vessels crossing the 
ocean annually. Many of these were manned by Eng- 
lishmen, who, as we are told, " were commonly lords 
in the harbors." Gilbert thought that it would be an 
excellent idea to make them lords on the land as well, 
by founding a colony in Newfoundland and taking 
possession of that large island for his queen and coun- 
try. 

He had no trouble in getting a patent for the land. 
Kings and queens in those days were always ready to 
give away what did not belong to them. It was de- 
creed that if he should establish a colony within six 
ii 



1 62 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

years from 1578, when the patent was given, all the 
land within two hundred leagues of his settlement was 
to belong to him and his heirs, with full rights to make 
laws for and govern the people. 

Gilbert went into the enterprise with energy. Vol- 
unteers were plenty, and at first all looked well. Then 
quarrels began; some wanted this, and some that; 
many dropped out in disgust, and when, in 1579, Gil- 
bert and his followers set out, there were but few under 
his flag, and ill luck went with them and forced them 
soon to return, — all but one vessel, which the waves 
swallowed up. The sea had taken toll from the fleet. 

It was 1583 before he was ready to start again. All 
now seemed promising. The queen herself bade him 
good-bye and presented him with a golden anchor, — 
perhaps as a token that he could anchor his colony 
safely on those far western shores. Parmenius, a 
scholar from Hungary, went with the expedition. He 
would doubtless have been its historian had fortune 
permitted him to return. 

Few of those who sailed from Plymouth harbor so 
bravely were to see the green shores of England again. 
If ill luck attended the first expedition, double ill luck 
went with the second. They were not two days out, 
the English coast had not fairly vanished from view, 
when the largest ship of the little fleet turned in its 
track and hurried back to port. The excuse was that 
an infectious disease had broken out on board. The 
true reason probably was that the disease of faint- 
heartedness had infected captain and crew. 

This desertion was a sore blow to Gilbert, but he was 
not one of the fainthearted kind, and kept steadily 
on his course, reaching Newfoundland in good sea- 
son. On the 3d of August he sailed into the harbor of 
St. John's, and was not there long before he made it 



IN AMERICA 163 

known to the fisher-folk that he had come to take pos- 
session in the name of his queen. They were all bid- 
den to take part in the ceremonies, the Spanish, Portu- 
guese, French, and such other foreigners as might 
be there. The English present needed no summons. 
The ceremonies were simple enough, being a mere dec- 
laration, with the necessary waving of the British 
standard, that he claimed that land for the august Eliz- 
abeth, England's sovereign queen, and the planting of 
a wooden column to which the coat of arms of Eng- 
land was nailed fast. As for the fishermen present, all 
were granted lands, with the condition that they should 
pay a quit-rent. We do not know just how the foreign 
fishermen viewed this proceeding, but there was noth- 
ing for them to do but submit. Whoever had the right, 
Gilbert had the power. 

But to make a claim and to raise a column is not to 
found a colony, as Sir Humphrey was soon to learn. 
Those with him explored the land and the hills, look- 
ing for the precious metals, as was so much the fash- 
ion in those days. Most of those who went to the 
mountains came back saying that they had found hope- 
ful signs. The " mineral man" of the expedition was 
ready to pledge his life that the hills were full of silver 
ore. It was, or seemed, a great discovery. He was 
bidden to keep his knowledge to himself, and speci- 
mens of the supposed ore were carried on board the 
ships by stealth, lest the foreign fishers might suspect. 

Meanwhile the main purpose of the expedition did 
not prosper. Gilbert had brought with him a sorry 
lot of men, his sailors being little better than pirates, 
and bent on robbing every ship that came in their way. It 
was an evil that in those days infected mariners every- 
where, and Drake's and Gilbert's men were only car- 
rying out the ethics of their profession in that age. 



1 64 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

The robbing of Spanish galleons in times of peace went 
far to make piracy a trade, and many besides those 
named took part in it. 

With men of this kind it was not easy to found a 
peaceful colony. All went wrong; order could with 
difficulty be maintained on shipboard. One of the ships 
was abandoned as unseaworthy, and with the three re- 
maining Gilbert set sail for the shores of the mainland 
on a tour of discovery. Other misfortunes followed. 
When they were off the coast of Maine the gross care- 
lessness of the crew ran the largest of the ships on the 
rocks, and it went to the bottom with nearly a hundred 
of its men. Parmenius, the Hungarian scholar, went 
down with it, and also the " mineral man/' with all 
his ore. The ore doubtless was of no more value than 
Frobisher's gold-bearing stones, for silver has not 
since been found in Newfoundland. 

We now come to the pathetic and tragic climax of 
our tale. With the two small vessels left there was 
nothing to do but to hasten back to England. Sir 
Humphrey had chosen for his flag-ship the smallest of 
his craft, the little " Squirrel," a bark of only ten tons, 
a diminutive craft utterly unfit to be afloat on ocean 
waters during the months of storm. He had chosen it 
as convenient for approaching the coast and entering 
harbors. Those about him now begged him to go on 
board the larger vessel, the " Hind," but he refused 
to leave the little company who had been his com- 
rades in all their dangers. 

It was a noble but a fatal resolution. As they sailed, 
the winds rose in their might and the seas grew high 
and rough. The oldest sailor on board had never seen 
" more outrageous seas." The little " Squirrel," la- 
boring in the billowy waters, threatened momentarily 
to go to the bottom. In that hour of danger Sir Hum- 



IN AMERICA 165 

phrey, staid old soldier as he was, showed the calm 
courage that had carried him through many cam- 
paigns. He sat abaft in his ship, with a book in his 
hand, like a scholar in his library, and as the " Hind" 
came within hearing distance he called out to them that 
noble sentiment, which has since held place among 
the world's proverbs, " We are as near to heaven by 
sea as by land." 

A stormy night followed the stormy day. Through 
the hours of darkness the vessels labored on. Finally, 
as midnight came near, the lights of the little " Squir- 
rel," which had as yet been visible from the deck of 
the " Hind," suddenly disappeared. It was the last 
ever seen of the vessel or any of its crew. The tu- 
multuous waves had claimed their victim, and the 
brave old sailor was gone. The " Hind" rode out the 
storm, and reached an English harbor in safety, with 
the doleful news of Gilbert's tragic fate. 



166 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH, THE PRINCE OF 
COLONIZERS 

We have now to tell the story of the great pioneer 
among English colonizers, the man who devoted his 
life and his fortune to the work of founding a colony 
in America, but who was pursued by a persistent ill 
fortune that made sport of all his efforts and robbed 
him of the honor which should of right have been his, 
that of establishing the first English colony in the New 
World. 

Walter Raleigh — Sir Walter Raleigh, as he after- 
wards became and is known in history — was a step- 
brother of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, and sailed from 
England with him in his first unsuccessful voyage. In 
Gilbert's second voyage, that of 1583, the ship that 
deserted and returned had been fitted out by Raleigh. 
Thus misfortune seemed to dog his footsteps from the 
start. It continued to haunt him in his many efforts 
to plant a colony on America's shores. 

The fate of poor Gilbert did not deter his enthusi- 
astic step-brother. He was a favorite of Queen Eliza- 
beth, who readily granted him in 1584 a patent which 
gave him almost kingly powers in any colony he might 
found. He did not propose to settle the chilly north, 
like Frobisher and Gilbert, but chose the sunny south, 
the salubrious land to the north of Spanish Florida. 

When Raleigh's plans were made known colonists 
crowded in. The balmy realms he sought were more 
to their taste than the regions of frost. Two vessels 
were sent out, filled with men and amply provisioned, 
on a voyage of investigation to the North American 



IN AMERICA 167 

coast. Raleigh did not go himself, but chose able 
mariners to command, and it was a hopeful crew that, 
on the 2d of July, 1584, came within sight of land on 
the Carolina coast. There is a strain of poetry in the 
story they tell, that the nearness of land was heralded 
to them by airs breathing fragrance, " as if they had 
been in the midst of some delicate garden, abounding 
with all kinds of odoriferous flowers." 

Reaching a promising harbor on the 13th, they 
landed and took possession in the queen's name. The 
spot on which they stood was Wocoken Island, one of 
those that skirt for many miles the coast of North Car- 
olina. Stormy enough in the winter season, only sweet 
and gentle breezes were found there in that month of 
July, and the visitors were overjoyed with the beauty 
of that islanded ocean and the charms of nature which 
they beheld. The lofty trees, the luxuriant vines, the 
shady arbors, the numbers and variety of birds, the new 
and fearless animals, all filled their souls with rapture, 
and words hardly served them to describe the beauties 
of the scene. 

The dusky natives, who gazed with timid wonder at 
the newcomers, were as gentle and friendly as they 
found nature to be. Passing to Roanoke Island, in the 
inner waters, they were entertained by its chiefs with 
simple but warm hospitality, and they tell us that " the 
people were most gentle, loving, and faithful, void of 
all guile and treason, and such as lived after the man- 
ner of the golden age." Their reception, indeed, was 
everywhere of the friendliest, and might have been 
followed by genial and happy intercourse had the visi- 
tors met their hosts half way in this spirit of amity. 
As it was they were soon to change this sentiment to 
one of distrust and hostility. 

No colonists were left on the first visit. The ships 



1 68 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

returned to England, bringing with them two of the 
natives, and with such glowing descriptions of what 
they had seen among those " hundred islands," bathed 
by the soft waves of a summer sea, that the queen, en- 
chanted by their vivid account, gave these sunny re- 
gions the name of Virginia, in honor of her own reign 
as a virgin queen. To Raleigh she gave the honor of 
knighthood, adding the knightly " Sir" to his name, 
and rewarded him with a monopoly of sweet wines in 
her kingdom, a grant which brought him in the wealth 
needed to continue his work. 

After the glowing stories that Captain Amidas and 
Barlow of the returned ships had spread abroad, col- 
onists were to be had in numbers, and in April, 1585, 
a second expedition was sent out, comprising seven 
vessels and with one hundred and eight colonists on 
board. Raleigh stayed at home as before, but his able 
friend, Sir Richard Grenville, took command, and 
Ralph Lane, a distinguished soldier, was named as 
governor of the colony to be founded. 

On June 26 the fleet came to anchor at Wocoken, 
and soon sailed through Ocracoke Inlet and up the 
sound to Roanoke Island. From here Grenville, Lane, 
and others made an excursion along the coast, lasting 
eight days. They found the natives everywhere hos- 
pitable. But at one of the Indian villages a silver cup 
was stolen, and as there was delay in getting it back, 
the headlong Grenville ordered the village to be burned 
and its crops of corn destroyed. Soon after he sailed 
back to England, having worked mischief through his 
hot temper for those he left behind. 

As for the land, it was still described in the warmest 
language. " It is the goodliest soil under the cope of 
heaven ; the most pleasing territory of the world. The 
climate is so wholesome that we have not one sick since 



IN AMERICA 169 

we touched the land. If Virginia had but horses and 
kine, and were inhabited with English, no realm in 
Christendom were comparable with it." 

Hariot, the historian of the expedition, went into 
more detail. He made a close observation of the land, 
its products, and its people, and was especially enthusi- 
astic about the abundant production of maize. The 
potato he found to be very good food, and he learned 
to smoke tobacco like the natives, thinking it to have 
healing qualities. He described the people, their dress, 
modes of life, manners, and customs, at length; the 
cruelty of their wars, their arts in peace, their system 
of government, and religious ideas. 

Meanwhile the natives were far from pleased when 
the ships sailed away and left so many men behind. 
The unjust act of Grenville had excited their fear and 
distrust, the fire-arms of the whites filled them with 
terror, and they were shrewd enough to foresee that 
more of the English would come, and that they would 
in the end be killed and their land taken. 

What could they do to get rid of these unwelcome 
strangers ? The first effort came when they found that 
the white men were eager for a yellow metal which 
they called gold. One of the savages, an adept in the 
art of lying, sought to send them afar in search of this 
metal. The story he told them was certainly alluring 
to men who were blankly ignorant of what lay in the 
interior of the continent. The river Roanoke, he said, 
had its springs in a great rock far within the land, and 
beyond this rock was a mighty sea, so near the stream 
that in times of storm the salt water dashed over the 
rock and mingled with the fresh water of its springs. 
Here dwelt a nation rich in gold and skilled in working 
it, and pearls were so plentiful that the shores of their 
city glittered with them. It is perhaps wrong to charge 



lyo HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

this Indian tale-teller with intentional falsehood. It 
may have been that traditions of Mexico and the west- 
ern ocean had reached his ears. 

Lane was quite ready to believe him. He took a 
boating party up the Roanoke, forcing his way against 
its swift current, and keeping on until all their pro- 
visions were gone and they were obliged to kill and 
eat the very dogs they had taken with them. Lane's 
quick return put an end to any plan which might have 
been entertained of killing the whites left behind, and 
the Indians were next inclined to leave their fields im- 
planted, and thus starve out their visitors. This plan 
was also given up. To starve the whites might be to 
starve themselves. But Lane distrusted them. He 
feared that they were forming a compact with their 
neighbors to attack and destroy the whites, and re- 
solved to give them a bloody lesson. He asked for an 
interview with Wingina, the most active of the chiefs. 
It was granted, and Lane and a number of armed men 
were welcomed to his modest dwelling. Immediately, 
without waiting for any show of hostility, the visitors 
attacked Wingina and his attendant warriors, and 
killed them all. 

This act of bloodthirsty treachery took place on the 
ist of June, 1586. It was not calculated to improve 
the safety of Governor Lane and the colonists, and their 
courage began to fail. They looked in vain for sup- 
plies from England, and many among them began to 
sigh for their native land. Their hopes revived when, 
a few days later, the sails of a numerous fleet whitened 
the seas. It proved to be Sir Francis Drake, with 
twenty-three ships under his command. He had been 
cruising for Spanish prizes in the West Indies, and had 
seen fit to stop at his friend Raleigh's settlement on his 
voyage home to England. 



IN AMERICA 171 

Drake gave them a ship and some boats, but a storm 
destroyed these, and the colonists lost heart so utterly 
that in the end he took them all on board his fleet and 
set sail for home. Thus ended the first English colony 
in America. They left a little too soon, for they had 
barely gone when a ship arrived with all the stores 
they needed. Finding the island deserted, it turned 
back home again. Two weeks later Grenville appeared, 
with three ships abundantly supplied. In vain he 
sought for the colonists, and in the end set sail, after 
leaving fifteen men on Roanoke Island to hold the 
place till new colonists could come. 

Raleigh had now much reason to feel discouraged. 
All these expeditions had been sent out at his ex- 
pense and all had ended in failure. Most men would 
have withdrawn from the attempt after this experience, 
but his resolution held firm. He would not give up. 
So far he had sent men only, now he would send col- 
onists with their wives and families, that they might 
make homes in the western world. " The City of 
Raleigh" was to be founded with a full municipal gov- 
ernment. John White was named its governor. Laws 
and rules were made for him. A squadron of ships 
was got ready, Raleigh paying for them all. All the 
queen had yet been willing to give was the name of 
Virginia to the new province. 

Setting sail in April, 1587, Roanoke Island was 
reached in July. Here the fifteen men whom Gren- 
ville had left were sought, but only their bones were 
found, and their fort was a ruin. It looked as if the 
savages had taken revenge on the white strangers, and 
the spectacle was far from reassuring to the new 
comers. They landed, however, took possession of the 
fort and the dwellings left by Governor Lane, and the 
new city of Raleigh began its history. 



172 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

From the start there was trouble. One tribe of In- 
dians was bitterly hostile. A party of the English, 
coming upon some Indians at night whom they thought 
belonged to this tribe, killed a number of them before 
they learned that they were murdering their own 
friends. When the ship returned White went with it 
to bring out fresh supplies. But before he went a girl 
child was born to his daughter Eleanor Dare, the wife 
of one of the colonists. This, the first English child 
born on United States soil, was given the name of 
Virginia Dare. He left behind him eighty-nine men, 
seventeen women, and two children, one of them being 
his new-born granddaughter. Not one of these was 
ever to be seen again. 

There was war in Europe to make trouble for the 
colonists. When Governor White reached England 
he found that country in a fever of excitement. Spain 
was making ready a mighty fleet, one of the greatest 
ever known, which was to carry a powerful army to 
England's shores, conquer that island, and make good 
Catholics of all its people by aid of persuasion or 
force. The " Invincible Armada" this expedition was 
called, and all the best soldiers and sailors of England 
were preparing to defend their country. Among them 
were Drake, Frobisher, Raleigh, Grenville, and Lane. 

It was a bad time to send aid to the colonists, but 
Raleigh did not forget the poor folks he had sent across 
the seas, and gave White two vessels laden with sup- 
plies to take to them. These ships had a false captain. 
Instead of going direct to America he spent some time 
in search of prizes. As a result he was badly whipped 
by a French man-of-war, and one of his vessels plun- 
dered. They both had to go back to England, and the 
colony was left to its fate, much to the distress of its 
founder. 



IN AMERICA 173 

Raleigh was generous and warm-hearted, but his for- 
tune could not bear such continual drains. He had 
already spent more than forty thousand pounds on his 
colonies and was now too poor to spend more. Very 
likely most of our readers know that the " Invincible 
Armada" did not conquer England, but was conquered 
itself, being utterly beaten by the English bull-dogs 
of the sea. But the great sea-fight with Spain delayed 
matters in England, so that two years passed after 
White left Roanoke Island before he was able to re- 
turn in search of his colony, his daughter, and his little 
granddaughter, Virginia Dare. 

When he landed on the island he found, to his dis- 
may, that the settlement was a ruin and the colony had 
disappeared. Not a trace of man, woman, or child 
could be found. There were no signs of them either 
living or dead. The only trace of their fate was a tree 
in whose bark the word " Croatan" had been cut. 
Croatan was an island not far away, the people of 
which had been friendly to the English. Had the 
settlers made their way there? It would not have 
been difficult to learn, but Governor White now 
showed a faint heart. The season of storms was at 
hand, he said; the ships were in danger. Deserting 
in their extremity even those of his own blood, he 
turned and sailed back to England, having proved as 
base and cowardly as the soldier who flies from the 
field of battle when his friends and comrades are in 
danger. 

No one ever saw the unfortunate colonists again. 
Five times afterwards, it is said, the kind-hearted Ra- 
leigh sent out ships to search for them, but they had 
vanished as utterly as if the earth had opened and 
swallowed them up. The story of the " lost colony" 
has since led to much surmise. They may have been 



174 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

murdered by the Indians ; they may have mingled with 
them and become half Indians themselves. Long after- 
wards there were found among the tribes of that re- 
gion Indians with blue eyes and light hair and. skin, 
and some think these might have descended from the 
lost colonists. 

No other man was so earnest in the colonization of 
the United States as Sir Walter Raleigh. He spent his 
fortune, he gave years of time, to this cause, only to 
meet with failure in the end. In all these efforts he 
had not crossed the ocean himself, but in his later years 
he did so on an expedition of discovery and explora- 
tion of which something must be said. 

In former stories we have spoken of El Dorado, the 
fabled land of gold in South America, which Spanish 
explorers made many vain attempts to find. The tale 
was one that stirred up Raleigh's imaginative mind, 
and he determined to seek for it himself. In 1595 he 
set out, with five vessels, in search of this golden 
realm, sailing to Guiana, on the northern coast of 
South America, where it was supposed to lie. Reach- 
ing the mouth of the great Orinoco River, he went up 
it in boats for a distance of three hundred miles, seek- 
ing vainly for the city and land of gold, but finding 
them not. He came back as empty-handed as he had 
gone, and wrote a book entitled " The Discovery of the 
Large, Rich, and Beautiful Empire of Guiana." He 
had not yet lost faith in its golden treasures. 

When Queen Elizabeth died Raleigh's era of good 
fortune came to an end. He was accused of treason, 
convicted without proof, and sentenced to death. 
Being reprieved, he was sent to prison in the Tower 
of London and kept there for thirteen long years, and 
while there wrote an excellent " History of the 
World." He was let out in 1615, broken in health 



IN AMERICA 175 

and partly paralyzed, on his offer to sail to Guiana and 
open its mines of gold. Furnished with a fleet of thir- 
teen vessels, he went there in 1617, and once more 
journeyed far up the Orinoco, exploring in every 
direction, but finding no mines and no traces of the 
long sought El Dorado. 

Many were his adventures on this expedition, one 
of them being a fight with the Spaniards of St. 
Thomas, in which his son Walter was killed. On his 
return to England the king of Spain demanded that 
he should be punished for his attack on a Spanish set- 
tlement. James I. was quite ready to favor Spain. 
Raleigh had found no gold, he had many enemies, he 
had been condemned to death for treason in 1603, so 
the king called up this old sentence and ordered him to 
be beheaded. Thus perished one of the greatest men 
connected with the history of colonization in America, 
a man of the noblest impulses and of unyielding per- 
sistence. Misfortune pursued him, but he made him- 
self an undying name in his great field of enterprise. 
Two centuries after his death North Carolina revived 
in his memory the " City of Raleigh," and made it its 
capital. 



176 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 



BARTHOLOMEW GOSNOLD AND OTHER 
DISCOVERERS IN NEW ENGLAND 

After 1492 it was long the custom of mariners, ex- 
cept those who went to the far north, to follow in the 
track of Columbus, and make their way to America by 
the route of the Canary and West India islands. Bar- 
tholomew Gosnold, an English adventurer, made his 
first voyage by this route, but in his second, con- 
cluding that this was a roundabout and needless 
course, he decided to sail straight across the Atlantic. 
Raleigh, the great colonizer, helped him, and in 
March, 1602, he set sail in a small vessel which in 
seven weeks brought him to Cape Elizabeth, on the 
coast of Maine. Gosnold's voyage is of interest, for he 
sought to found a colony on the New England shores 
before that of the Pilgrims. If he had been successful, 
the honor of the first colony would have fallen to New 
England instead of to Virginia. 

Sailing down the coast and stopping at various 
points, he discovered on the morning of May 15 a 
long, sandy promontory to which he gave the name of 
Cape Cod. This spot became famous in later years as 
the first landing-place of the Pilgrims, but Gosnold was 
the earliest of English birth to set foot upon it, or, so 
far as we know, upon New England soil. At that time, 
little more than three hundred years ago, there was not 
a man of white skin in the whole region between Flor- 
ida and Greenland. 

Doubling Cape Cod, Gosnold sailed onward along 
the coast until he entered the stately sound now called 
Buzzard's Bay, but which he named Gosnold's Hope. 



IN AMERICA 177 

One of its islands he called Elizabeth, in honor of the 
queen. The whole group of islands now bears this 
name. 

The adventurers were delighted with the beauty and 
fertility of the land they had reached. Here were 
noble forests, containing many stately trees, and wild 
fruits in abundance. Flowers in profusion bloomed 
before them, the eglantine, the honeysuckle, the wild 
pea, and others unnamed. Here grew wild berries, the 
strawberry and the raspberry, while grapevines fes- 
tooned the trees. Sassafras, a valued medicinal plant, 
was plentifully seen. Elizabeth Island held a broad 
pond in whose centre was a rocky islet. On this was 
built a fort and a storehouse for the defense of the 
pioneer colony of New England. 

Sassafras root, then looked upon as of sovereign 
value in medicine, was so abundant that Gosnold 
loaded his ship with it, and then prepared to return 
with the story of his discoveries, first selecting a party 
of settlers to hold the fort. But when the time came 
for sailing these refused to stay. The Indians, at first 
friendly, were becoming hostile, provisions were lack- 
ing, they had good reason to fear death from the na- 
tives or from starvation, and when, in June, the ships 
set sail, no man was willing to stay behind. In five 
weeks they were home again. They had been only 
four months absent, and not a sick man was on board. 

The story told by Gosnold and his men was an in- 
viting one. They had found the voyage short and 
safe, the climate pleasant, the country delightful. So 
promising did it all seem that the merchants of Bristol 
quickly organized another expedition to the same 
shores, sending out in 1603 two ships under the com- 
mand of Martin Pring. He was as successful as Gos- 
nold had been before him. He coasted along the shores 



178 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

of Maine, entering* its rivers and harbors, and landed 
also in Massachusetts, seeking sassafras, but finding 
none. Then he sailed on until he reached Old Town 
Harbor in Martha's Vineyard. Here the sassafras 
cureall was found, and loading his ships he sailed 
back to England with the valuable cargo. 

Shall we go on with the story of these New Eng- 
land explorations? They are of importance as events 
in early American discovery. Pring had told as en- 
ticing a story as Gosnold, and in 1605 an expedition 
was sent out under George Waymouth, an experi- 
enced sailor, who had already been to Labrador. Like 
Gosnold, he reached shore at the sandy coast of Cape 
Cod. Here he found himself among dangerous shoals, 
and stood out to sea to escape them, heading north- 
ward until he came to the group of islands now known 
as St. George's, and passing through them into a fine 
harbor, easy to enter, with good anchorage, and well 
protected against the winds. 

The climate seemed to him delightful ; the sea was 
crowded with fish ; trees of noble growth and girth 
bordered the shores ; the silver fir yielded a gum which 
to his fancy was as fragrant as frankincense ; so pleas- 
ant in every way seemed the land that many of the 
ship's company would have been glad to settle there 
had he been prepared to leave them. 

Making in his pinnace a tour of discovery around 
the bay, he came in the last days of May to the mouth 
of what seemed a noble river, broad and deep, and 
sending its current strongly into the bay. It was the 
stream now called St. George's River, up which soon 
afterwards he took the ship, sailing between its for- 
est-bordered sides for some eighteen miles. Its ver- 
dant banks, its breadth, — from half a mile to a mile, — 
its fine coves, the strength of its tides, were all highly 



IN AMERICA 179 

admired, and the explorers deemed themselves in a 
land of plenty and delight. 

When the ship reached shoal water Waymouth took 
his boat and was rowed ten miles farther up the 
stream, his pleasure at the fertility of the soil and the 
richness of the vegetation increasing with every mile. 
At the point where the river turns to the westward he 
planted a cross, as a memorial of his visit, and turned 
down stream again. 

He had found the natives friendly and willing to 
trade, bringing otter, beaver, and deer skins to ex- 
change for the trinkets of the whites. Like others be- 
fore him, he requited them for their friendliness by 
decoying five of them on board his ships and carrying 
them away with him to England. His purpose was to 
have them taught English, that they might serve fu- 
ture expeditions as interpreters. 

Reaching Plymouth on his return home, Way- 
mouth gave three of his dusky passengers to Sir Fer- 
dinando Gorges, the governor of that town, and spoke 
to him with the utmost warmth of the fertility of the 
country he had visited, its delightful climate, its rich 
fisheries, and the readiness of its people to exchange 
costly furs for trifles. But above all these Gorges was 
interested in the story of the fine and safe harbor which 
had been found, for so far the English explorers of 
the coast has met with little evidence of good harbors. 

Such were the voyages which were to lead to the 
pioneer colonies of the United States. We need but 
say further here that Sir Ferdinando Gorges was for 
the remainder of his life actively interested in the col- 
onization of New England. He sent out ship after 
ship, planted a colony in 1607 on the coast of Maine, 
which endured for a year, — the cold of the winter prov- 
ing too much for the endurance of the settlers, — and 



180 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

finally, after the Pilgrims and the Puritans had made 
their settlements, he was granted in 1636 large pos- 
sessions in Maine, of which he was made lord pro- 
prietor. 

Captain John Mason was associated with him in 
this grant, which embraced the region between the 
Merrimac and Kennebec Rivers. Here, after es- 
tablishing some fishing villages, they divided their 
claims, Mason taking the country west of the Pisca- 
taqua River, which he named New Hampshire, after 
Hampshire, his home in England. Gorges took the 
country east of that river and named it Maine, — per- 
haps as the " main " land, to distinguish it from the 
coast islands. 



IN AMERICA 181 



JOHN SMITH AND THE EXPLORATION 
OF THE CHESAPEAKE 

In the month of April of the year 1607 a small fleet, 
composed of three vessels, and carrying one hundred 
and five emigrants, came within sight of the American 
shores. An ill-chosen party they were to be sent 
abroad to plant a colony in the wilderness. Gentlemen 
many of them called themselves, but gentlemen in those 
days was apt to mean worthless idlers. Among them 
were only twelve laborers and only a few mechanics. 
They had been bidden to land on Roanoke Island, the 
scene of Raleigh's unsuccessful venture twenty years 
before. Fortunately a severe storm carried them past 
the Carolina islands and into the magnificent Chesa- 
peake Bay, the broad expanse of which they viewed 
with the greatest delight. 

Heaven and earth, they thought, had never framed 
elsewhere so noble a place for men to dwell in. Into 
the bay poured the waters of a broad river, which they 
named the James, after James I., then king of Eng- 
land. Up this stream they sailed for about fifty miles, 
and on the 13th of May came to a peninsula jutting 
into the river, which they chose as a suitable place for 
a settlement, naming it Jamestown. 

Among these colonists there was only one man of 
whom we wish to speak in particular, for he was the 
soul of the colony, and the most astonishing man for 
the variety of his adventures who ever sought Amer- 
ica's shores. He bore the plain name of John Smith, 
but of the many men who have borne this name Cap- 



1 82 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

tain John Smith, as he is called in history, was the 
prince. Never abler man took part in the founding 
of a colony and never had man more worthless ma- 
terial to deal with. It was due solely to him that the 
Jamestown colony did not prove a quick and dismal 
failure, like all those that had gone before it. 

Before he crossed the seas Smith had had an extra- 
ordinary career as a soldier. While quite young he 
had taken part in the wars in the Netherlands. Later 
he was shipwrecked and robbed and fell into great 
want in France. He visited Italy and Egypt, and 
fought against the Turks in Hungary, fighting three 
of them in single combat between the armies, and kill- 
ing them all. Taken prisoner in 1602, he was sold to 
slavery among the Turks. His master treated him 
cruelly, but Smith gained revenge by killing him and 
riding off to safety on his horse. He escaped through 
the forests, but was too fond of adventure to keep 
quiet, and made his way soon to north Africa, where 
there was talk of war. Finally he got back to Eng- 
land, and there he joined the expedition to Jamestown. 
He was to play as active a part in America as he had 
played in Europe, and make himself one of the most 
famous pioneers of the New World. 

It is not our purpose to describe in detail the doings 
of Captain Smith. These have been so often told that 
we shall pass them by and confine ourselves to his 
discoveries. It is as an explorer of the Chesapeake 
that his name finds place in this work. 

The " gentlemen" at Jamestown did as little work, 
except in the search for gold, as possible. While they 
were seeking gold he, far more wisely, was seeking 
food, and they soon would have been starving if he had 
not induced the Indians to help them. His first ex- 
ploration came when the gold-seekers began to com- 



IN AMERICA 183 

plain that he had not ascended the Chickahominy, a 
small river that ran into the James. They got it into 
their wise heads that the Pacific Ocean lay not far 
away, and that this river might lead to it and its pos- 
sible hills of gold. The reason they did not try the 
larger river, the James, was doubtless that the rapids 
and falls above Jamestown cut off navigation on that 
stream. 

We do not know that Captain Smith expected to 
reach the Pacific by rowing up a creek, but he had the 
instinct for adventure and discovery, and went up the 
Chickahominy in a barge until he could get no farther. 
He then paddled twenty miles higher up in a canoe. 
Here he was in the marshes near the river's head and 
the Pacific still very far away. 

This journey led to the most perilous of all Smith's 
adventures. Taken prisoner by the Indians, he would 
have been killed on the spot if he had not amused their 
chief by giving him a little pocket compass. The 
strange movements of the magnetic needle astonished 
his captors so greatly that they spared his life. He had 
many adventures among these Indians, and astonished 
them still more when he sent a written message to 
Jamestown and received a reply. The mystery of the 
" talking paper" was still greater than that of the 
needle that always pointed to the north. 

In the end Smith was taken to the village of Pow- 
hatan, the great chief on the York River, and it was 
here that took place the most romantic of his adven- 
tures. He tells the story himself, and therefore some 
do not believe it. But there was nobody else to tell 
it, and Captain Smith was not much given to lying. 
Besides, the tale he told was not unlike other tales in 
Indian history, so that we have much warrant to be- 
lieve it. 



1 84 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

This is the oft-told tale. When the captive was 
brought before Powhatan, he found the great chief 
reclining on a sort of throne, while around the wig- 
wam sat a row of men and behind them a second row 
of young women, decorated with feathers and beads 
and with their heads and shoulders painted red. When 
the prisoner entered they all gave a terrific yell. He 
was brought water to wash with and food to eat, and 
then the Indians began a long talk of which he under- 
stood not a word. But he knew its meaning too well 
when two large stones were brought in and laid before 
Powhatan, and he was seized and thrown down, his 
head on the stones, while some sturdy savages stood 
over him with their war clubs raised in the air. 

At this moment Pocahontas, the favorite daughter of 
Powhatan, a girl of twelve or thirteen, who had begged 
his life from her father, ran forward and laid her head 
on his. This act of his daughter touched the old chief's 
heart, and the captive's life was spared. Two days later 
Powhatan permitted him to return to Jamestown, on 
the condition that he should send him two great guns 
and a grindstone. Smith was quite willing. He would 
have offered them a ship if they had asked for one. 
He showed the cannon and the grindstone to his guides 
and bade them carry them home. But when they 
found how difficult these were to lift they were very 
well satisfied to take home some smaller presents. 

This adventure only whetted Smith's taste for ex- 
ploration, and on the 2d of June, 1608, he set out on an 
important work, that of exploring the great Chesa- 
peake Bay, tracing its sources, and gaining informa- 
tion about its inhabitants. The equipment for this im- 
portant expedition was a very small one, consisting of 
an open barge, with fourteen men besides himself, 
—seven soldiers, one doctor, and six " gentlemen," the 



IN AMERICA 185 

latter nearly worthless for an excursion of such risk 
and length. 

Sailing down the James to its mouth, they crossed 
the bay to Cape Charles, and proceeded up its eastern 
shore, carefully examining every bay and inlet, giving 
names to the isles and headlands they met, and visiting 
the chiefs. These Smith found in different moods, some 
peaceful, some warlike. But he had insinuating ways 
that disarmed them all, and those who fired upon his 
party at first were soon ready to trade with them for 
their finest furs. 

After following the eastern shore for many miles up 
the bay, he crossed over and found himself at the 
mouth of the Patuxent River. Here no inhabitants 
were visible, except the wolves, bears, deer, and other 
fourfooted residents of the forest. The " gentlemen" 
in his party by this time were thoroughly weary of the 
journey, and begged him to go back, but he refused and 
went on till he reached a point where the width of the 
bay was reduced to nine miles. As a number of the 
wearied were now sick he turned back, and on June 10 
came to the mouth of a splendid river, the Potomac. 
The sight of this fine stream so revived the sick that 
they were quite willing to go up it, and the little barge 
ascended above the sites of Mount Vernon and Wash- 
ington and to the falls above Georgetown. 

For thirty miles no inhabitants were seen, then they 
came upon two natives, who became their guides up a 
little creek. Suddenly they found themselves in a 
great ambuscade, as it seemed, there being from three 
to four thousand fierce-looking savages, " so strangely 
paynted, grimed and disguised, shouting, yelling, and 
crying, as so many spirits from hell could not have 
showed more terrible." 

The small boat's crew seemed utterly lost before this 



1 86 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

screaming horde, but their captain was an adept in 
dealing with the natives. He had his men train their 
guns and fire so that the Indians could see the bullets 
strike the water. The loud noise, the strange effect, 
excited their fear and wonder, and in a moment down 
went their bows and arrows and signs of peace fol- 
lowed their show of hostility. 

Farther up the river other tribes were met, all of 
them friendly, and on their way back they came across 
some great rocks which showed shining spots in places 
which the rains had worn bare. At once the old 
thought of gold arose. Up the rocks they scrambled 
and eagerly scraped up the yellow spangles with which 
the ground was covered. One of the natives, seeing 
their eagerness, told them of a mountain near by where 
plenty of yellow stuff was to be found, and guided 
some of them to it. The substance found appeared 
to be antimony. Some of it was afterwards sent to 
England and pronounced to be of no value. 

Farther down the stream Captain Smith met with a 
serious adventure. The river was full of fish. Among 
those caught by them was a sting-ray, a fish quite un- 
known to those present, and from its dangerous spine 
Smith received an ugly wound. The pain was so 
intense, and his head and arms became so frightfully 
swollen, that he thought he was fatally poisoned. 
Death seemed near at hand, and in his seeming ex- 
tremity he picked out a spot on a neighboring island 
for a burial-place, and some of the men even landed to 
prepare a grave for their dying leader. Fortunately it 
was not needed. The remedies of the doctor miti- 
gated the pain and reduced the swelling, and by even- 
ing the wounded man had so far recovered as to par- 
take heartily for his supper of the fish to which he 
owed his wound. 



IN AMERICA 187 

Not long afterwards the explorers reached James- 
town, their trip having occupied them twenty days. 
But Captain Smith was far from satisfied, and a month 
later was off again on a second trip to complete his 
exploration. This time he passed the Potomac and as- 
cended the Patapsco River, on the banks of which 
dwelt a warlike and powerful tribe, the Massowomeks. 
He had been warned against them, and as many of his 
men were sick, he made them lie down in the bottom 
of the boat and raised their hats on sticks to make 
his force appear as formidable as possible. Luckily 
these savages proved peaceful, as did nearly all he 
met. 

The journey led past the site of the future city of 
Baltimore, whose harbor was probably entered and ex- 
plored. They went on till they reached the head of 
the bay at the mouth of the Susquehanna, a mighty 
stream coming down from hundreds of miles to the 
north. Here dwelt the tribe to which this river owes 
its name, the Susqusohannocks, whom Smith speaks of 
as a nation of giants. He measured the limbs of some 
of them and gives figures which are incredible. One 
of those he speaks of would have put to shame Goliath 
of Gath by the girth of his mighty calves. 

They were a populous people, to whom the whites 
came as a revelation. The simple-minded savages 
looked upon them as divine visitors and tried to wor- 
ship them. Before they parted they gave Smith and 
his men presents of some of their most cherished 
treasures. Far up this stream, the whites were told, 
lived a mighty nation, the Mohawks, " who dwelt upon 
a great water, and had many boats and many men," 
and who " made war upon all the world." This was the 
first news heard of the powerful Iroquois tribes, who 
then ruled the country for many miles around. 



1 88 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

From this point the return journey began, following 
the western shore of the bay. As before every inlet 
was explored, names were given to points of promi- 
nence, crosses were raised, holes were bored in trees 
and writings placed in them, and other signs of pos- 
session were made. Reaching the mouth of the Rappa- 
hannock, they proceeded up this stream. Here savages 
were met who had heard of the whites at Jamestown 
and their doings and had no welcome for such dan- 
gerous visitors. They attacked them fiercely with 
spears and arrows, and followed them down the stream, 
still firing on them from the woods. It would have 
gone ill now with the explorers but for the fact that 
they had obtained from the Massowomeks a number of 
shields tough enough to turn the sharpest arrow. 
These Smith placed along the sides of the boat, and by 
their aid saved his crew. On September 7 the party 
safely reached Jamestown again, after a narrow escape 
from destruction in a severe storm off Old Point Com- 
fort. 

We have here given an account of a passage in the 
life of John Smith of which little is usually said, but 
which formed a very important part of his work. The 
whole journey, with its many ins and outs, was com- 
puted by him to be over three thousand miles in length, 
and, in view of its many incidents and adventures, may 
be classed as worthy the age of romance in American 
history. The map he prepared of the bay was correct 
as showing all its outline features. He visited all its 
inhabitants and made friends with all except the trucu- 
lent savages of the Rappahannock, opening the way 
for colonial expansion. In view of the slenderness of 
his means, the courage and resources shown, and the 
valuable results, this two months' summer trip of Cap- 
tain John Smith was a memorable exploit, which has 



IN AMERICA 189 

placed his name among the list of those who have 
enlarged the boundaries of geographical knowledge. 

We shall say nothing here about the remarkable 
ability of Captain Smith in managing the unruly set- 
tlers at Jamestown. This does not belong to our sub- 
ject. It must suffice to say that a serious accident in 
1609 obliged him to return to England, and that, 
though he made another visit to America, he never saw 
Virginia again. 

In this second visit he made a close survey of the 
northern coast, from the Penobscot to Cape Cod, pre- 
pared a map of the coast, and gave the name of New 
England to the country. The titles of New Spain and 
New France had already been given to other sections 
of the continent, but of those three titles that of New 
England alone survives. 

In 161 5 Smith set out with the purpose of founding 
a colony in New England, but severe storms drove him 
back. When he set out again French pirates inter- 
cepted his ships, and he escaped alone, in an open boat, 
from the harbor of Rochelle. But he continued vigor- 
ously to recommend the colonization of New England, 
was appointed admiral of that country for life, and 
lived to see the settlements of the Pilgrims and the 
Puritans established on its shores. 



190 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 



HENRY HUDSON AND THE DISCOVERY 
OF THE HUDSON RIVER 

A mariner of note and fame was Henry Hudson, 
an English sailor who in the years 1607 and 1608 made 
two voyages in the track of Frobisher and Davis, seek- 
ing that "will-o'-the-wisp," a northwest passage to 
Asia. He then left the English and entered the Dutch 
service, and in 1609 set out again for the same purpose, 
in a ship of the Dutch East India Company. His ship 
bore the strange name of the " Half-Moon." 

Touching at Newfoundland, he sailed on to Labra- 
dor, and then turned to the south, thinking, like many 
before him, that somewhere there might be a water- 
way through the continent to the Pacific. He entered 
Penobscot Bay; he landed on Cape Cod, which he 
named New Holland, and kept on until he reached 
Chesapeake Bay. 

Knowing that an English colony was settled there, 
he turned to the north again, and in a few days reached 
the entrance of another great body of water, now 
known as Delaware Bay. Here he claimed possession 
of the country for Holland, but failed to sail up the 
bay, continuing along the low New Jersey shores till 
at length he came in sight of the Highlands, or Nave- 
sink Hills. This the journalist of the voyage thought 
" a very good land to fall in with and a pleasant land 
to see." It must have appeared so after the sandy 
beaches they had just skirted. 

On the following day he rounded a low " sandy 
hook," and on the morning afterwards the " Half- 
Moon" cast anchor in a fine inlet, at a short distance 



IN AMERICA 191 

from the shore. They were in the outer waters of 
New York Bay, or, as they called it, " the great North 
River of New Netherland." 

Soon the natives came paddling in their canoes to 
the ship, seeming to be highly pleased by the visit of 
the whites, and viewing with wonder their great white- 
winged canoe. They brought green tobacco, which they 
offered in exchange for knives and beads. They wore 
deerskin clothing, had copper pipes and ornaments, 
and Indian corn for food. During that day and the 
next they continued to visit the ship, some of the later 
comers being dressed in feathers and furs. 

Meanwhile some men were sent in a boat to explore 
the bay and what seemed the channel of a large river, 
and found the land to be covered with trees, grass, and 
flowers, and the air filled with a delightful fragrance. 
But on their return, for no apparent cause, a party of 
Indians made a fierce attack upon them, killing one 
and wounding two others of the boat's crew. This 
made Hudson suspicious of his visitors, and he would 
permit no more to board his vessel. Two men then 
on board he held as prisoners, but they afterwards 
escaped. 

As yet the " Half Moon" had lain in the outer bay, 
but the anchor was soon lifted, and the ship passed 
through the Narrows, entering the fine inner harbor. 
Before them lay the wooded island on which has grown 
up the greatest city of the continent and the second 
city of the world. Into this broad harbor poured the 
current of a splendid stream upon whose waters Hud- 
son looked with delight and hope. Might this not be 
the channel he sought, the liquid avenue to the Pacific, 
the continental waterway to the wealth of the Indies? 
Flowing from the far interior, no man in those days 
could guess how far inland it might extend or what 



192 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

marvels might lie upon its banks. He determined to 
ascend it and see whither it led. 

The Roanoke, the Chickahominy, and other streams 
had been ascended with the forlorn hope of reaching 
the Pacific, and now this great river was to be added 
to their number. On the afternoon of September 12 
Henry Hudson began his voyage up that noble stream 
which through its later history was to bear his name. 

Far up the stream went the adventurous voyagers, 
past the columned wall of the Palisades, through the 
mountain gap of the Highlands, beholding new scenes 
of beauty or grandeur at every turn, while the natives 
thronged to the banks and gazed upon the ship with 
wonder, many of them coming out in their canoes with 
forest commodities to sell. 

Hudson viewed these dusky visitors with suspicion. 
The unprovoked attack which had been made on his 
boat's crew had taught him to doubt them, and he 
resolved to try an experiment which, by throwing them 
off their guard, might induce them to reveal any 
treachery they had in mind. His purpose was to 
loosen their tongues with the fire-water of the whites 
and get them to speak freely while under its influence. 

He invited several of the chiefs into his cabin, set 
out brandy before them, and drank some of it himself 
as an example. The savages did the same and quickly 
felt the effects of the strong liquor, one of them be- 
coming so intoxicated that he fell to the floor in a 
stupor. The others, frightened at seeing their fellow 
seemingly dead, fled from the cabin, leaped into their 
canoes, and paddled in all haste to the shore. 

Hudson's experiment had not been much of a suc- 
cess. Some demon, the natives thought, had taken 
possession of their friend, and a number of them came 
back with a quantity of beads, which they put in his 



IN AMERICA 193 

hand, as an aid to help him get rid of the fiend. The 
next morning they were early on board, and when they 
saw the chief restored, brought back to life, as it 
seemed, they were wild with joy. To reward Hudson 
they brought him tobacco and beads, made him an 
oration of which he did not understand a word, and 
then brought on board a great platter of dressed ven- 
ison which he understood better, and which they signed 
to him to eat with them. Then, bowing to him with 
deep reverence, they departed, all but the restored 
chief. After his taste of the dangerous but alluring 
beverage of the whites he preferred to remain on 
board. Such was the introduction among the Indians 
of this region of that demon of drink, which was to 
prove the ruin of so many of their descendants. 

Hudson continued his course up the river until he 
came to a point a little below where the city of Albany 
now stands. To his disappointment he found the river 
here narrowing and shoaling, and the hope of reaching 
the Pacific by its waters began to die out in his mind. 
To satisfy himself he sent a boat some twenty or 
twenty-five miles higher up the stream. It grew 
steadily narrower and shallower as they advanced, and 
it became evident to them that the head of ship navi- 
gation was reached. No indications of the great west- 
ern ocean had appeared, and Hudson decided to turn 
back. He had at least discovered a splendid river and 
a noble harbor, even if the main object of his search 
lay beyond his reach in the unknown west. 

The descent of the river proved to be much more 
rapid than the upward journey had been. It was not 
without its adventures. When near Stony Point a 
number of Indians boarded the ship, and one of them 
stole some articles from the cabin. He was shot and 
killed by the mate, a severe punishment for a trifling 
13 



194 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

fault, and one which was destined to bring a quick 
reprisal. On the following day, while the " Half 
Moon" lay at anchor some distance farther down the 
stream, a canoe put off from the shore. Among the 
Indians on board Hudson recognized one of those he 
had held captive and who had made their escape on 
the voyage up stream. On seeing this man, treachery 
was feared, and he and his companions were ordered 
off. Two other canoes filled with armed men followed, 
paddling under the stern, and making an attack with 
arrows. The sailors fired back, and after three of 
the assailants had fallen the others hastened to the 
shore. 

It was soon evident that the hostile spirit was gen- 
eral, more than a hundred armed men now pushing off 
from the land and making a threatening approach. 
To repel them, one of the ship's cannon was fired, kill- 
ing two of the savages and driving the others in panic 
flight to the woods. But even the thunder of the can- 
non, so terrible, when first heard, to the American 
natives, did not deter these daring savages, for some 
nine or ten of the boldest of them sprang into a canoe 
and paddled out towards the vessel. Their effort was 
hopeless against the well-armed whites. A cannon- 
shot pierced their canoe and killed one of them, while 
a volley of musketry prostrated three or four more. 
The others hastened ashore and the battle was at an 
end. Some five miles farther brought the " Half 
Moon" into wider waters, where the mariners were 
beyond the reach of their foes. 

The ship was now near the bay, and the exploration 
of the river was completed. It had been followed from 
its mouth to the head of navigation, and though Hud- 
son had neither found a northwest nor a transconti- 
nental waterway to the Pacific, he had made a splendid 



IN AMERICA 195 

discovery and secured a valuable possession for his 
employers. For himself he had won such fame as the 
attaching of his name to the noble river he had trav- 
ersed would give. His work was done, and setting 
all sail he put to sea, glad to be able to carry to Hol- 
land the news of his discovery. 

The Dutch were not hasty in taking possession of 
the territory found by Hudson. For years they had 
no more than a trading station on Manhattan Island, 
at the river's mouth. In 161 5 a settlement was made 
at Albany, where the " Half Moon" had stopped in its 
upward course. The country was named New Albany, 
a title to be changed to New York when the English 
succeeded the Dutch in possession. As for Captain 
Hudson, a few words must suffice to finish the story 
of his exploits. 

In the following year, in a final effort to find the 
northwest passage, he discovered and explored the im- 
mense bay in the north of the continent which, like 
the river he had found, still bears his name. Here he 
passed the winter, suffering for want of provisions. 
In the next spring the crew, angry at his desire to con- 
tinue his researches, broke into mutiny, forced the 
captain and eight of his men into a small boat, and 
sailed away. Nothing was ever heard of them after- 
wards, and of Henry Hudson there remained only the 
fame of his discoveries. 

There is an amusing story connected with the coming 
of the first English ship to the Hudson, which may 
serve to round up our narrative. This was in 1633, the 
English captain being one Jacob Elkins, his ship the 
"William." Wouter van Twiller, the Dutch gov- 
ernor of the fort on Manhattan Island, sternly bade 
the interloper depart, and refused him permission to 
go up the river. If he should attempt it, the governor 



196 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

declared it would cost him his life. To add to the 
force of his words, he bade his men to hoist the flag 
of the Prince of Orange on the fort and fire three 
pieces of ordnance in the prince's honor. Elkins at 
once ordered the English flag to be hoisted on the 
" William," and three guns were fired in honor of the 
king of England. Van Twiller, in a rage, now bade 
Elkins take heed what he did, if he did not want to 
pay with his neck for his insolence. Elkins in retort 
hoisted anchor and sailed defiantly up the stream until 
he came " near to a fort called Orange." 

By this time the doughty Dutch governor was in a 
state of high fury. Bidding all the inmates of the 
fort to assemble before his door, he ordered a barrel 
of wine to be broached, filled his cup to the brim, and 
drank a bumper, crying out, " Let all who love the 
Prince of Orange do the same and help me to repel 
that insolent English dog." The barrel of wine was 
soon emptied by the thirsty Hollanders, but they did 
not seem eager to meddle with the daring English- 
man, even with all the " Dutch courage" they had 
imbibed. 

Our tale goes on to tell that Elkins and his men 
went ashore a mile below Fort Orange, landed their 
goods, set up a tent, and opened a lively trade with the 
Indians. When Houten, the commissary at the fort, 
heard of these proceedings, he embarked with a trum- 
peter on a shallop, which was shadowed with green 
boughs, and sought the insolent strangers. As the 
chronicler says, " By the way the trumpet was 
sounded, and the Dutchmen drank a bottle of strong 
waters of three or four pints, and were right merry." 

Finding that neither the trumpet nor the bottle 
scared the English, the Dutch set up a tent beside 
theirs, displayed their own goods, told the natives that 



IN AMERICA 197 

the English goods were worthless, and did all they 
could to take their trade away. But as it happened 
the Indians knew Elkins, who had lived four years 
among them and spoke their language, so they bought 
his wares in preference to those of the Dutch, and 
he stayed there fourteen days, doing a thriving trade. 

By this time Van Twiller had completed his plans 
to get rid of the insolent enemy, and sent a Dutch 
officer up the river with a party of soldiers in three 
small vessels. He bore two letters, in which Elkins 
was ordered to up anchor and be off. Soldiers were 
also sent from Fort Orange, " armed with muskets, 
half pikes, swords, and other weapons." Reaching the 
trading point, they drove away the customers of the 
English, and ordered Elkins to strike his tent and de- 
part. In the presence of this strong force he changed 
his tone, pleading instead of defying, declaring that 
he was on British soil and had a right to trade there. 
But the Dutch had seen and heard enough of him, and 
as he showed no signs of decamping they pulled down 
his tent, hustled his goods and his men on board, " and 
as they were carrying them to the ship sounded their 
trumpet in the boat in disgrace of the English." 

And thus ended the contest, the whole affair being 
ridiculous enough to find a place in Irving's " Knicker- 
bocker's History of New York." 



i 9 8 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 



SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN, THE FOUNDER 
OF QUEBEC 

Sixty-eight years after Jacques Cartier sailed up 
the St. Lawrence and visited the Indian town at Mon- 
treal a second adventurer from France followed his 
track up that great stream. This was the famous 
Samuel de Champlain, one of the most active and 
adventurous of the French pioneers in the New 
World. His name still survives in America in that 
noble inland body of water, Lake Champlain, which he 
was the first to visit and explore. 

Born in 1567 at a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, 
Champlain fought for King Henry IV. in the navy 
and the army, and won the high esteem of that war- 
like monarch. When the wars had ended the sol- 
dier's active spirit would not let him rest. There was 
adventure to be had on the seas, if not on the land, 
and he determined to go to the West Indies and see 
for himself the Spanish fountains of wealth. Little 
cared he that the Spaniards had threatened every in- 
truder with death. He was used to peril, and the 
spirit of romance and enterprise was in his blood. 

He spent two and a half years in the West Indies 
and Mexico, visited Panama, and was far-sighted 
enough to suggest the plan of a ship-canal across the 
isthmus, which would vastly shorten the voyage to the 
Pacific. More than three centuries have passed since 
then and the canal proposed by Champlain is only now 
being made. 

All this but served to give Champlain a longing 
for new adventure. In the north lay a vast wilder- 



IN AMERICA 199 

ness of untravelled woods and unknown waters. New 
France it was then called, and vain efforts to settle 
it had been made. In 1603 our adventurer put to sea 
again, as part of the company of two tiny vessels, one 
of twelve and one of fifteen tons, which made their 
way across the stormy Atlantic and entered the broad 
waters of the St. Lawrence gulf. Thence sailing up 
the river in the path of Cartier, they came at length 
to the forest and mountain-marked site of Montreal. 
Changes had taken place there since Carriers visit. 
The Indian town of Hochelaga had vanished, and only 
a few wandering natives inhabited the region. Evi- 
dently war, with its changes, had been busy in the 
land. 

Champlain, eager for discovery, pushed on up the 
stream in an Indian canoe, but soon the surging 
rapids of the St. Lawrence were reached, and after a 
vain effort to pass them the adventurer returned ; yet 
his soul was filled with desire to explore that great 
chain of rivers and lakes which the Indians told him 
stretched far away to the west, and much of whose 
waters he was to traverse in later years. Returning 
to France, he was quickly back again, and was one 
of the most active of those who founded the first per- 
manent French colony in the New World, that of 
Port Royal in Acadia, or Nova Scotia, as it was 
later called. 

But we must go on to the year 1608, when our ex- 
plorer made his second visit to the St. Lawrence, 
this time as captain of a small French ship, the 
" Honfleur." It was an epoch-making voyage, for it 
was destined to establish the dominion of France on 
the great Canadian river, in the picturesque settlement 
since known as Quebec. Steep cliffs here overlooking 
the river attracted the attention of the experienced 



200 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

soldier. He recognized the situation as one that would 
be easy to defend, and soon the axe-men were at 
work among the forest trees and laborers were busy in 
erecting buildings and surrounding them with pali- 
sade and moat. Cannon were mounted, and the first 
settlement and fort on the St. Lawrence was com- 
pleted. It stood near where is now the market-place 
of the lower town of Quebec. 

Here, with twenty-eight men for a garrison, the 
hardy soldier spent the bitter Canadian winter that 
followed. They had the cruel experience of Cartier 
and his men, the dread disease of scurvy breaking out 
among them. By the middle of May only eight of the 
twenty-eight remained alive. But their leader had 
escaped the disease, and with the coming of spring, 
and the arrival of a vessel with supplies and fresh 
colonists, his active spirit was astir. There was a 
vast unknown country to be explored. Who knew 
but that the waters before him might prove that chan- 
nel to the Pacific which had so often been vainly 
sought? Champlain was not the man to be idle when 
there were discoveries to be made and adventures to be 
achieved, and the year 1609 was not far advanced 
when he was out upon the most memorable enterprise 
of his life, that which led to the discovery of Lake 
Champlain. 

This discovery was made in a way that appealed 
alike to the instincts of the explorer and the soldier. 
It was reached through the pathway of war. To the 
south dwelt a great race of warlike savages, the lords 
of the wilderness, the ruling tribes in all the north- 
eastern region of the country. They had long been 
the terror of all the dwellers on the St. Lawrence, 
the tribes of the Hurons and Algonquins, with whom 
they were constantly at war. 



IN AMERICA 201 

A young chief who visited Quebec and saw with 
amazement the works and the arms of the whites, was 
quick to perceive what splendid allies these men would 
prove in their war with the terrible Iroquois, and he 
begged Champlain to join him in the spring in a 
campaign against the enemies of his people. Cham- 
plain readily consented. This was an enterprise of 
the kind he loved. And it would aid him in the work 
of discovery which he had in mind. 

The month of May was well advanced before the 
warriors whom Champlain had agreed to join in their 
warlike raid made their appearance at Quebec. After 
some delay, given up to feasting and war-dances, the 
party at length set out, twelve white men in all, and 
with them a horde of painted and savage allies, hideous 
in their war array. The whites were in a small shal- 
lop, the Indians in a multitude of canoes, which hun- 
dreds of sturdy arms forced upward against the swift 
current. They crossed the Lake of St. Peter and in 
time reached the mouth of the stream now known as 
the Richelieu, or the St. John, leading southward 
to the forest-girdled lake they sought. Here the war- 
riors encamped for two days, fishing, hunting, and 
feasting, their halt ending in a quarrel which led to 
three-fourths of the party taking to their canoes and 
paddling off home, leaving the remainder to proceed 
against their formidable foes. 

Soon, in the warm air of June, the warriors were 
afloat again, gliding up-stream between living walls 
of green, the shallop soon leaving the canoes behind 
and passing onward until in the distance was heard the 
gurgling sound of rushing waters, while through the 
clustering leaves the gleam of flashing foam appeared. 
The sound was most unwelcome to Champlain. The 
Indians had lied in telling him that he would find an 



202 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

open channel for his boat. Leaving- it in charge of 
four men, he took to the woods with the others and 
pushed his way up-stream through the damp and dense 
forest. The surging roar of rapids attended them. 
Through the leaves they saw that rocks were thick in 
the channel, with the water boiling under and plung- 
ing over them in impassable fury. 

Disappointed and angry, the French leader returned. 
His allies had deceived him. The shallop could not 
go on. Yet he had no thought of turning back while 
before him lay that unseen lake, with its many islands 
and its forest borders, which the Indians had traced 
for him in outline. There was fame in its discovery; 
there was adventure in fighting the forest warriors ; 
he resolved to go on. Two of his men volunteered to 
go with him and the others were sent back with the 
boat. 

Soon the savage horde was traversing the forest 
shades, their canoes on their heads, until the rapids 
were passed and smooth water once more appeared. 
Then they embarked again, sixty warriors in all, the 
French allies finding places in the canoes. For miles 
and miles they followed the St. John, past marsh and 
meadow, island and woodland, all well filled with 
game, stopping as night approached. Selecting a suit- 
able spot, they formed a barricaded camp, for they were 
now on the battle-ground of the tribes, and caution was 
needed. Feasting on the food brought in by the hun- 
ters, the warriors threw themselves on the ground to 
sleep, taking no precaution to guard their camp other 
than to send out scouts to trace the neighboring forest 
for hostile signs. This was the custom of the forest 
warriors, who never troubled themselves to place sen- 
tinels. 

Day broke over the forest again, and once more the 



IN AMERICA 203 

fleet of canoes was set afloat, the river widening, and 
great islands appearing as they went on. Broad 
reaches of water spread before them, and the day had 
made no great progress when Champlain's eyes beheld 
with delight the widening waters of the splendid lake 
which bears his name. It apeared to him like a sea 
in the wilderness, stretching far onward beyond the 
limit of vision, and widening until its green-walled 
shores lay far away to right and left. Mountain- 
ranges closed it in — the lofty ridges of the Green 
Mountains to the east, with patches of snow still on 
their peaks ; the Adirondacks to the west, then as now 
the favorite resort of the hunter. 

At night they encamped again, and from this time 
moved only by night, resting in the forest during the 
day. They were now in the land of their foes, and 
strict precaution was needed. Thus their progress 
continued until the night of the 29th of July. They 
were now approaching that promontory of rock on 
which Fort Ticonderoga was afterwards built, and be- 
yond which stretches away the island-studded waters 
of beautiful Lake George. This was their goal if no 
enemy was sooner seen, but they were not destined to 
reach it, for about ten o'clock at night they saw a 
fleet of canoes on the waters before them. 

It was a band of the Iroquois. These alert warriors 
at once recognized the newcomers for foes, and 
dashed to the shore, where, with fierce war cries, they 
hastily began to fortify themselves. The allies re- 
mained on the lake, fastening their canoes together 
with poles, and answering the yells of their foes with 
as wild and fierce cries of defiance, while the two par- 
ties hurled back shouts of abuse and menace at each 
other till daylight drew near. 

Champlain and his two men now put on their ar- 



204 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

mor and prepared their arquebuses, the predecessor of 
the modern musket, for the coming fight, then lay 
down in the bottom of their canoes, or covered them- 
selves with Indian robes, that the enemy might not 
see them. As they reached shore and landed the 
Iroquois left their barricade. Tall, strong men they 
were, some two hundred in number, far outnumbering 
their enemies. The latter, anxious at this display in 
force, called loudly for their champion, and Cham- 
plain came forward through their opening ranks, and 
for the first time was revealed to the astounded Iro- 
quois. Never had they seen a white man before, and 
as this apparition burst upon their gaze, clad in shin- 
ing armor and carrying strange weapons, they looked 
on him in stupefied amazement. 

His arquebuse was levelled; its report was deafen- 
ing to their unaccustomed ears ; a chief fell dead ; the 
allies yelled and sent out a flight of arrows. The 
Iroquois, with trembling hands and scared hearts, sent 
back their shafts, but when new shots came from the 
flanks of the foe and new warriors fell, panic terror 
overcame them, and they broke and fled as if from 
demon foes. 

Everything was abandoned, their weapons being 
flung down in their wild haste; while the Hurons 
hotly pursued, killing them at will or bringing them 
back as captives. It was one of the most complete vic- 
tories ever won in the American forests. The blow 
had been struck, the dreaded Iroquois defeated; the 
victors hastened back with their captives and spoil, 
and before many days Champlain was again in Que- 
bec, with the story of his exploit and his discovery. 
The exploit was one for which the French were to pay 
dear in the time to come. It aroused against them 
the hatred of the valiant Iroquois, and in later years 



IN AMERICA 205 

the disgrace of that defeat was wiped out in torrents 
of French blood. 

For many years afterwards Champlain made the de- 
velopment of the settlement of Quebec his constant 
care, returning almost annually to France in the in- 
terest of his colony, but seeking the St. Lawrence 
again with the coming spring and doing his utmost for 
its advancement. The difficulties before him were im- 
mense, and only his indomitable energy and persist- 
ence enabled him to succeed. Twenty years after the 
first settlement Quebec contained only about one hun- 
dred and five persons, of whom no more than one or 
two families supported themselves by farming, the rest 
living on supplies from France. The precarious 
chances of fur trading had stood in the way of settled 
industry. 

In 1628 it seemed as if the dominion of the French 
in New France was to pass away forever. An Eng- 
lish expedition led by David Kirk, a French Huguenot, 
entered the St. Lawrence, captured the supply ships 
coming to the aid of the colonists, and in the following 
year forced Champlain and the few defenders of Que- 
bec to yield it to English hands. Soon after a treaty of 
peace was made between England and France, in which 
it was agreed that New France should be restored to 
its old owners, but five years passed before this was 
done, and it was not until 1633 that the keys of the 
citadel were given back into the hands of Champlain. 
Two years later death came to close the career of this 
greatest of the pioneers of France in America, the 
romantic and adventurous explorer who did so much 
to widen the knowledge of this section of the New 
World. 

We have so far related but one of his daring ex- 
ploits. A very brief description of the remainder must 



206 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

suffice. In 1613, three years after his adventure on 
Lake Champlain, he set out with five companions in 
two small canoes for an excursion up the Ottawa 
River. Starting from Montreal, they made their way 
for many miles through the virgin wilderness of the 
north, most of it unbroken forest, making long 
portages past rapids and cataracts, and through 
almost impassable tracts of evergreen woodland, pad- 
dling up long stretches of placid waters, until the 
villages of the Ottawa Indians were reached, on that 
broad expansion of the stream now known as Lake 
Coulange. Tedious and dangerous had been the jour- 
ney, but the daring explorer was not yet content. He 
had been made to believe that he was on the way to 
a great sea, and his mind was filled with visions of 
accomplishing the great feat so often attempted, and 
reaching the treasure-laden shores of China, India, 
and the spice islands. Only when his dusky hosts, with 
much difficulty, taught him that he had been deceived, 
and that no such sea lay ahead, did he consent to 
return. 

Two years later he was off again, now on his great- 
est journey of discovery. There was war as well as 
exploration in his mind. He had agreed to join the 
Hurons and their allies in a bold invasion of the Iro- 
quois country, and, not finding them where he ex- 
pected, at Montreal, he set off once more up the Ot- 
tawa. This time he passed Lake Coulange and con- 
tinued upward, finally leaving the Ottawa for the lit- 
tle Matawan, which he ascended for about forty miles. 
Here a portage track was reached, and the canoes were 
carried through the forest till the small expedition, 
consisting of ten Indians and three Frenchmen, stood 
on the borders of Lake Nipissing. 

Past the leafy shores and verdant isles of this for- 



IN AMERICA 207 

est-girdled lake and down the swift current of French 
River they went, paddling onward day after day 
through an unbroken solitude, until their food was 
consumed and they had but wild woodland berries to 
eat. At length the day came when they suddenly saw 
before them a band of three hundred Indians, and 
learned that the great lake of the Hurons was at hand. 
Soon the " Mer Douce," the great fresh-water sea 
they sought, came into view, and before them, as far 
as eye could see, spread the vast expanse of Lake 
Huron, stretching for hundreds of miles away. 

Launching their canoes upon the waters of Georgian 
Bay, its great inlet, they coursed along the eastern 
shore for more than a hundred miles, then left it to 
follow an Indian trail inland, till they came to an open 
country with broad fields of maize, and in its midst 
the Huron town of Otouacha, the principal settlement 
of the Huron nation, which here occupied an area of 
sixty or seventy miles. 

Here, after days of feasting and carousing, a pow- 
erful war party was gathered and set out, following 
a succession of rivers and lakes to the river Trent, 
which led them to another of America's chain of in- 
land seas, Lake Ontario. With this ended the series 
of Champlain's great discoveries, which had included 
the great lakes Huron, Ontario, and Champlain, and 
a host of rivers and lakes of interior Canada, to which 
his indefatigable thirst for adventure had led him. 

The present expedition ended in a crossing of the 
lake, an invasion of the Iroquois country, and an at- 
tack on a fortified town of the tribe of the Senecas, 
near one of the lakes of central New York. It ended 
differently from Champlain's previous contests with 
this people. While they defended themselves bravely, 
the Huron warriors were uncontrollable, being deaf 



208 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

to all commands, and exposing themselves wildly in 
the open field to the arrows of their foes. Order could 
not be restored among them, and Champlain, wounded 
by two arrows, was disabled. In the end, their ex- 
pected allies not coming, they retreated in disorder, 
followed by their triumphant foes, and finally suc- 
ceeded in reaching the dwellings of their tribe. 

Champlain was obliged to spend the winter with 
the Hurons, returning by way of the Ottawa in the 
following spring. This was the last of his expedi- 
tions. During the remainder of his life he was kept 
busy in the difficult task of sustaining his colony at 
Quebec, and finally, when success began to dawn 
brightly before him, death suddenly carried him 
away. Thus lived and died the heroic pioneer of 
French Canada. 



IN AMERICA 209 



JAMES MARQUETTE, THE FIRST EX- 
PLORER OF THE MISSISSIPPI 

The years that followed the death of Champlain, 
France's pioneer discoverer, were years of wonderful 
activity among the French adventurers in the New 
World. Two classes of men, with two purposes in 
view, were unceasingly active in the work of explora- 
tion. One of these was the Jesuit priests, who faced 
the greatest perils and hardships, and some of whom 
endured the most terrible tortures, in their efforts to 
carry the truths of Christianity to the savage tribes. 
The other was the hunters and trappers, who widely 
traversed the wilds in search of furs. In all direc- 
tions they spread, up countless streams, over multi- 
tudes of lakes, traversing broad new regions, making 
their way farther and farther into the interior, with a 
persistence and intrepidity rarely equalled in human 
history. 

Champlain had traversed the waters of Lakes Huron 
and Ontario. Jean Nicolet, in 1634, was the first to 
gaze on Lake Michigan. Fathers Chamonot and Bre- 
beuf stood on the shores of Lake Erie in 1640, and 
Lake Superior was reached by some forgotten wood- 
rangers in 1659. Niccolas Perrot, a daring pioneer 
whose adventures were thrilling, was the first to stand 
on the site of Chicago; Father Abanal, crossing the 
northern wilds, came to the chill waters of Hudson 
Bay in 1671 ; and Father Hennepin, gazing through 
the dense forest leafage in 1678, looked with wonder 
and awe upon the stupendous cataract of Niagara. 
14 



210 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

While not the first to see, he was first to describe, this 
inimitable wonder of nature. 

Father Claude Alloiiez, in 1665, passed by river and 
lake to Superior's inland sea, built a chapel on its 
southern shores, and founded the mission of the Holy 
Spirit, around which he gathered representatives of 
far-away tribes and taught them the principles of 
peace and mercy. Among them came warriors from 
the prairie-dwelling Sioux, the buffalo-hunters of the 
far west, and from the tribe of the Illinois, who told 
the story of a noble river which ran through their coun- 
try, flowing far to the south. The Sioux also dwelt 
on this mighty stream, to which they gave the name of 
Messipi. 

The tidings of some new marvel of nature to be 
discovered seems always to have roused the adven- 
turous spirit of the French. As fresh stories of the 
great river came to their ears a strong desire to trav- 
erse its waters arose, especially in the mind of James 
Marquette, a missionary priest, who came from France 
about 1668 and founded the mission of St. Mary at 
the Sault Ste. Marie. He proposed to explore this 
magnificent river, of which the natives spoke in such 
glowing strains, as early as 1669, but his labors among 
the tribes obliged him to defer this enterprise until 

1673- 

Whither the wonderful stream ran no one knew. It 
might flow due south to the Gulf of Mexico. It might 
turn to the west and form the often sought channel 
to the waters of the Pacific. At any rate its explora- 
tion was a noble enterprise, worthy the utmost daring 
of the sons of France. Some Indians, who heard the 
bold purpose of Father Marquette, sought to dissuade 
him with stories of the warlike natives who dwelt upon 
the great river, the devouring monsters that swam in 



IN AMERICA 211 

its waters, and the terrible heat of its lower course. 
But the worthy priest was not to be checked. He re- 
plied to their remonstrances, " I shall gladly lay down 
my life for the salvation of souls." 

His chosen companion was a forester of experience 
from Quebec, named Joliet. Ascending the Fox River 
from Green Bay, Lake Michigan, on the ioth of June, 
1673, the two canoes of the expedition were lifted from 
its waters and carried across a narrow portage to the 
Wisconsin, upon whose surface they were launched. 
Here their Indian guides left them, and the daring 
voyagers, with five of their countrymen as their sole 
companions, trusted themselves in their frail birch-bark 
canoes to these unknown waters. 

Down the Wisconsin River they floated in utter 
solitude day after day, neither man nor beast appear- 
ing on its leafy shores, the ripple of the waters below 
their canoes and the lowing of distant buffaloes being 
nearly the only sounds that met their ears. Seven days 
of this solitary journey, then with joy they beheld the 
mighty flood they sought pouring swiftly past, and 
were soon afloat on its broad bosom, the first of white 
men to behold its waters in their upper course. 

Launched upon the smooth current of the Father 
of Waters, they floated by green islets, between park- 
like borders, past shallow reaches, the resort of water- 
fowl in vast multitudes, but beheld no trace of man 
until they had gone nearly two hundred miles be- 
low the mouth of the Wisconsin. Then, on the 
sandy beach, the tracks of footsteps were seen. A 
little path led inward, opening into a beautiful prairie. 
Leaving their companions in the canoes, Marquette 
and Joliet followed the path. What awaited them, 
how they would be received by the savages of this new 
region, they could not surmise, but they went stead- 



212 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

ily forward, one with the meek devotion of the priest, 
the other with the bold daring of the forester. 

A six-mile walk brought them to a village on a 
river bank, with two other villages visible in the near 
distance. Uttering a loud cry of warning, they walked 
on. The startled inhabitants sprang out and gazed 
upon them with wonder. The tidings of the white 
men of the East had come to their ears, but these were 
the first to meet their eyes. Evidently there was no 
hostility in their hearts. Four old men came forward 
with the peace-pipe, and offered it with the words, 
" We are Illinois," equivalent to, " We are men." 

" How beautiful is the sun when thou comest to 
visit us," said an aged priest, to whose cabin they were 
led. " We greet thee with friendship ; thou shalt 
enter our dwellings in peace." 

For six days the visitors remained with these 
friendly hosts, Marquette telling the natives the story 
of the one true God, and asking them about the great 
river and the tribes along its banks. Joliet told them 
of the power of the French and how they had chas- 
tised the all-conquering Iroquois, welcome news which 
the villagers celebrated by joyful ceremonies and a 
banquet of hominy and fish and the choicest game the 
prairie afforded. When at length they took their 
leave hundreds of warriors went with them to their 
canoes, and the principal chief hung around the neck 
of Marquette a peace-pipe ornamented with the heads 
and feathers of brilliant birds. This was the sacred 
calumet of the Indians, the symbol of peace, a safe- 
guard against warlike tribes. 

As yet success had attended them, and they went 
joyfully onward. For many leagues the canoes glided 
down the broad current, now passing a range of per- 
pendicular rocks, which took on the shapes of mon- 



IN AMERICA 213 

sters to the eyes of the travellers, now reaching that 
notable point where the murky waters of the Missouri 
pour impetuously into the clearer and calmer Missis- 
sippi, — a mighty stream which Marquette hoped some 
day to ascend in search of the western sea. 

Somewhat more than a hundred liquid miles were 
left behind them when the waters of another great 
stream were reached, now coming from the east. This 
was the Wabash, as then known, the Ohio of our day. 
The Shawnees, a peaceful tribe, had their villages 
along its banks, far from the lakes of New York, yet 
not too far to be safe from the attacks of the terror- 
inspiring Iroquois. 

The explorers had now journeyed hundreds of miles 
southward and marked changes in climate and sur- 
roundings began to appear. The thickets of strong 
canes bordering the stream became so close and dense 
as to defy even the powerful buffalo; the assaults of 
mosquitos and other annoying insects were almost 
unbearable; the sun poured down its rays in such in- 
tensity that the sails of the canoes had to be converted 
into awnings ; forests of great and lofty trees replaced 
the open prairies they so long had traversed; they 
were in a new realm of nature, with fresh scenes 
and marvels for their eyes. 

The shores of Missouri were left behind. The river 
border of Arkansas was traversed. At length they 
reached a point not far north of the southern boun- 
dary of the present State of Arkansas, and now for 
the first time signs of hostility met their eyes. A 
crowd of armed warriors sprang into their canoes, 
made of the trunks of hollowed-out trees, and pad- 
dled towards them with frightful yells. For the mo- 
ment death threatened the voyagers; but when Mar- 
quette held up the peace-pipe there was a sudden 



214 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

change. The warriors threw down their weapons, 
changed their war-whoops into shouts of welcome, and 
escorted the visitors, whom they had taken as a party 
of their hereditary enemies, gladly to the shore. 

The voyagers were now near the end of their jour- 
ney. After a hospitable reception by their new hosts, 
they were escorted down the stream the next day by a 
party of these to the village of Arkansea, some eight 
or ten leagues farther. Half a league above the place 
they were met by some of its people, in two boats, 
their chief singing and holding up the pipe of peace, 
to which Marquette responded by displaying his calu- 
met. 

The travellers had now reached a point below the 
mouth of the Arkansas and were among tribes whose 
languages they could not understand. They were 
below the region of wintry chill and the lands of the 
fur trade, buffalo skins being here the tribal treasures. 
But what the visitors were principally interested in was 
the fact that these people had steel axes, evidence that 
they had traffic with the Spaniards of the south, or 
mayhap with the English of Virginia. Convinced at 
length that the river they were on turned not to the 
east or the west, but was that great stream which De 
Soto had discovered and which had its outlet in the 
Gulf of Mexico, Marquette and his associate decided 
that it was needless for them to go farther, and on the 
17th of July, thirty-seven days after they had left the 
waters of Fox River, they bade farewell to their hos- 
pitable hosts and turned their prows up stream. 

The journey was now one of steady effort. The 
former easy yielding to the current was now replaced 
by a vigorous battle against its force. But strong arms 
sent the canoes upward until, some distance above the 
outlet of the Missouri, they reached the mouth of a 



IN AMERICA 215 

fine stream from the east, the Illinois. Entering this 
stream in preference to returning to the Wisconsin, 
they made their way through a level and splendid 
country, the fertile prairie region of Illinois. Its 
tribes were friendly and hospitable, and begged the 
good priest to return and dwell among them. One of 
their chiefs guided the explorers to Lake Michigan 
at the site of Chicago. From here they went north- 
ward up the lake, reaching their starting-point at 
Green Bay in September, 1674. 

A few words will suffice to complete the story of 
these discoverers. Joliet went east to Quebec to tell 
the governor of their exploit, and with this he passes 
out of history. Marquette, whose health had grown 
feeble, returned to the Illinois in 1675, and there gath- 
ered all its people, several thousand in number, 
preached to them, and founded among them the Mis- 
sion of the Immaculate Conception. Then, feeling that 
his life was nearing its end, he went by way of Chi- 
cago to Mackinaw, and here, left at his own desire 
alone on the banks of a little stream, the good priest 
breathed his last. On the highest bank of the stream, 
which bears his name, the canoe-men dug his grave 
in the sand. Thus passed away one of the most ar- 
dent in good work and most famous as a discoverer 
of the many earnest and devoted missionaries of New 
France. 

In 1680, three years after the death of Marquette, 
a second priestly explorer helped to complete the 
knowledge of the great river. This was Louis Henne- 
pin, a Franciscan monk, who formed one of the at- 
tendants of Robert de La Salle, the famous explorer 
with whom we have next to deal. As a preliminary to 
his own descent of the Mississippi, La Salle sent 
Hennepin to visit its upper reaches, from the mouth of 



216 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

the Illinois northward. Bearing the calumet in token of 
his peaceful mission, and invoking the aid of St. An- 
thony upon his enterprise, Hennepin and his two com- 
panions made their way down the Illinois and up the 
Mississippi, passing the Wisconsin, from the waters 
of which Marquette had embarked on the flood. Being 
taken prisoner by the Sioux Indians, they were carried 
to and beyond the great falls of the river, which, in 
honor of the chosen patron of the enterprise, they 
named the Falls of St. Anthony. 

On a tree near the falls Hennepin engraved a cross 
and the arms of France. He and his companions made 
journeys of exploration in the surrounding country. 
On their return they ascended the Wisconsin, crossed 
to the Fox River, and completed their journey at the 
French mission-settlement on Green Bay. The ex- 
ploration of the Mississippi had thus been completed 
from the Falls of St. Anthony to the mouth of the 
Arkansas River. 



IN AMERICA 217 



ROBERT DE LA SALLE AND THE FATHER 
OF WATERS 

The French of Canada had traversed in Indian ca- 
noes the chain of great lakes from the St. Lawrence 
to the western shores of Lake Superior. They had 
floated in birch-bark canoes down the mighty river 
of the west from the land of winter to that of summer. 
It remained to trace this vast stream, the " Father of 
Waters" of the Indians, through its whole length, and 
the man for that work was ready in Robert Cavelier, 
Sieur de La Salle, the greatest of all the pioneer ex- 
plorers of France. The story of his life would need 
a book to tell it in full. We can give it here only 
in mere outline. 

Born at Rouen, France, in 1643, La Salle sought his 
fortune in Canada in 1667, engaging in the fur trade, 
a vocation which took him far into the woods and 
wilds. Full of youthful enterprise and more ardent 
for discovery than for wealth, he explored Lake On- 
tario and made his way to Lake Erie, no doubt pass- 
ing that wonderful abyss into which the Niagara pours 
its waters in the most sublime of cataracts. In his 
woodland journeys he is said to have gone as far as 
the Ohio, being the first of white men to behold that 
noble stream, the possession of which in later times 
was to lead to years of war between England and 
France. 

After spending a number of years in this work, the 
enterprise of La Salle was rewarded by his being 
made a noble of France and put in command of Fort 
Frontenac, at the head of Lake Ontario, where the 



218 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

city of Kingston now stands. This gave him dominion 
over a wide territory and full control of the trade 
with the Iroquois tribes, and he might have made him- 
self one of the money kings of New France had not 
a new and nobler ambition developed in his soul. 

Joliet, the forester, on his way east from his voyage 
down the Mississippi, stopped at Fort Frontenac and 
told its governor the story of his adventures upon that 
vast stream. La Salle was familiar also with the nar- 
rative of De Soto and his discoveries upon its lower 
waters, and the desire was born in him to explore this 
wonderful stream to its mouth, raise there the banner 
of France, and add a new and noble province to the 
colonial domain of his mother-land. 

Full of ambitious plans, he went to France, where 
he won the support of the king and his ministers, and 
on his return to Frontenac in 1678 it was with sailors 
and mechanics, merchandise for trade, and materials 
for ship-building. As an aid to his enterprise he had 
also been given the sole right to trade in buffalo robes. 
We cannot tell how broad and brilliant were the vis- 
ions which filled his imagination, what imperial pro- 
jects he devised, what ardent hopes inspired him, 
but doubtless he saw spread before him the oppor- 
tunity for a mighty empire, covering the immense ter- 
ritory between the St. Lawrence and the Gulf of Mex- 
ico, linked by great lakes and streams easily traversed 
throughout their vast extent, and tied together by an 
extended chain of thriving settlements. What glow- 
ing visions of this nature arose in his mind we do 
not know, but what he did fills a broad page in the 
history of human enterprise. 

La Salle had brought with him an Italian named 
Tonti, who was for years his faithful lieutenant and 
trusted comrade. He had also with him Father Hen- 



IN AMERICA 219 

nepin, the priest spoken of in the preceding tale. 
Sending these out to win the friendship of the neigh- 
boring tribes, he set his ship-builders at work on the 
Niagara River, and in 1679 launched the first vessel 
ever seen on the lakes, the " Griffin," a bark of sixty 
tons, on which the natives gazed with deep astonish- 
ment and its builder with aspiring hope. On the 7th 
of August its sails were spread to the winds and it 
glided away over the waters of Lake Erie with its 
complement of fur traders and explorers, the enter- 
prising La Salle at their head. 

The green isles of the Detroit were passed, Lake St. 
Clair was traversed and named, the mariners were 
tossed by storms on the broad Huron, and anchor was 
finally cast in Green Bay, on Lake Michigan. Here 
the adventurers landed, freighted the bark richly with 
the buffalo robes obtained from the natives, and sent 
it back to find a market and bring supplies. And here 
came one of La Salle's greatest misfortunes. The 
" Griffin" never reached harbor. It probably went 
down with its rich lading of furs in the storm-haunted 
lakes. 

After a period of weary waiting for his vanished 
bark, La Salle made his way by streams and swampy 
portages to the Illinois River, and in Indian villages 
on its shores the winter was passed. It was a weary 
and discouraging winter. Discontent and dread filled 
the hearts of the men, and despondency affected the 
active spirit of the leader, and when in the spring he 
built a fort on the stream, he named it Crevecceur, or 
break-heart fort. 

Still no tidings of the " Griffin" reached him. The 
nearest French settlement lay many hundred miles 
away. Food and supplies were failing; the Indian 
tribes around him were not to be trusted. At Quebec 



220 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

were envious foes seeking to wreck his enterprise; 
the way before him was dark. Men of ordinary cali- 
bre would have despaired and abandoned the enter- 
prise under these discouraging circumstances, but the 
resolution of La Salle was all enduring, and misfor- 
tune only nerved him to greater efforts. 

Leaving Tonti to fortify a lofty cliff in the vicinity, 
and sending Hennepin to explore the upper Missis- 
sippi, he set out himself on foot on the great journey to 
Montreal, a thousand miles away. With four French 
companions and an Indian guide the daring adven- 
turer trudged on, day after day, through forest and 
plain, now wading across fields of melting snow, now 
crossing streams on cakes of floating ice or stopping 
to build a bark canoe, meeting difficulties and endur- 
ing hardships which broke down all the party except 
the indefatigable leader. When Lake Erie was reached 
they were all sick except La Salle, and he had to take 
them across in a canoe. At Niagara he heard the dis- 
heartening news that a store-ship from France, sent 
him with fifty thousand livres worth of supplies, had 
been wrecked in the St. Lawrence and all its cargo 
lost. Yet with unflagging energy he went on, until 
Montreal was reached and his thousand miles of wil- 
derness journey was completed. 

Collecting men and supplies he made his way back 
in canoes, but ill fortune dogged his footsteps still. 
At Fort Frontenac word reached him that the garri- 
son at Crevecceur had mutinied, pulled down the fort, 
and made their way to Lake Michigan, leaving only 
the faithful Tonti and a few followers. They were 
now cruising in canoes on Lake Ontario proposing to 
finish their work of mutiny by murdering him. They 
fell into their own trap, La Salle capturing them and 
sending them in chains to Montreal. 



IN AMERICA 221 

He now made his way to the site of the future Chi- 
cago and had his heavily laden canoes dragged over the 
icy surface of Chicago River and the snowy waste lead- 
ing to the Illinois, proposing to rescue Tonti and re- 
build the fort. Tonti was not there. During the sum- 
mer of 1680 a war party of Iroquois had attacked the 
tribe of the Illinois, and Tonti and his men had been 
forced to flee, making their way to Green Bay on Lake 
Michigan. In May, 1681, La Salle returned for sup- 
plies to Montreal, meeting his friend Tonti on the 
way and paddling with him the length of the lakes. 
This caused another year of delay, and it was not 
until the early months of 1682 that La Salle and his 
company were able to set out on the final journey in 
their canoes and a barge which he had constructed on 
the Illinois. Reaching the mouth of this river, on the 
1 8th of February, the adventurers entrusted them- 
selves to the broad current of the greater stream, and 
began their long journey downward. 

Like Marquette and his comrade, La Salle soon 
reached the locality where the turbid Missouri pours 
its yellow flood into the clearer waters of the Missis- 
sippi. Thence the mouth of the Ohio was soon 
reached, and the expedition stopped here for ten days 
to hunt and collect food-supplies, the natives telling 
them that they would find no good hunting-grounds 
for many miles below. Finally the vicinity of the 
Arkansas, where Marquette's journey had ended, was 
reached, and, as before, the Indians here showed signs 
of hostility, which quickly changed to amity when 
the pipe of peace was displayed. 

For two weeks La Salle and his men remained with 
these friendly Indians, dwelling in their villages, and 
being treated with warm hospitality and regaled with 
all the luxuries their hosts possessed. On leaving he 



222 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

took possession of the country in the name of his king 
with impressive ceremonies, the natives looking on 
with interest and delight, not dreaming, in their sim- 
ple souls, that the soil on which they and their an- 
cestors had dwelt for ages was being claimed as the 
property of a king who as yet did not even know that 
such a country or such a community existed. 

On the 17th of March the canoes were launched 
again, and now entered upon waters never before trav- 
ersed by white explorers. A few days of travel in 
this unknown region brought the voyagers to a lake- 
like expansion of the stream, the banks of which were 
far more densely inhabited than any place they had 
yet seen. No fewer than seventy-four villages were 
counted on its opposite shores, the houses being well 
built and comfortably furnished, and presenting a very 
different appearance from the wigwams of the north- 
ern tribes. This populous settlement was under a 
kingly ruler, whose power was far greater than that 
of the chiefs of the north. They were a frank and 
genial race, who lived largely by tilling the ground, 
and had fruit-trees of various kinds. For several 
days the explorers stayed with this friendly people, 
who did their best to make them welcome, though all 
their intercourse was conducted in the language of 
signs, no word being understood. 

A man of kindly disposition, engaging in his man- 
ners, and treating the natives in a wise spirit of friend- 
liness, La Salle was received by the inhabitants of this 
locality in a very different spirit from that which De 
Soto had aroused by his harshness and cruelty. But 
the journey was not to be solely peaceful, a tribe of 
fiercely hostile natives being met with lower down 
the stream. Here a long island divided the river, and 
as they floated down the narrow channel they were 



IN AMERICA 223 

startled by war-whoops and the fierce beating of 
drums, a throng of warlike warriors appeared, and a 
flight of arrows greeted their every attempt at friendly 
intercourse. For the first time the sacred calumet, the 
pipe of peace, proved of no avail, and the voyagers 
were obliged to row to the opposite bank and trust 
themselves to the swift current and the vigorous use 
of their oars and paddles, La Salle bidding them not 
to fire, as that could do no good. The warriors ran 
down the stream, still sending their arrows in showers, 
but by good fortune no member of the party received 
a wound. 

They had no further experience of this kind. A 
few days more and they floated past the site where the 
city of New Orleans now stands, on waters before 
traversed only by the wretched remnant of De Soto's 
proud train of Indian canoes, but now crowded with 
the busy fleets of commerce. Not far below this point 
the head of the delta was reached, and here the small 
fleet of canoes was divided into three sections, each 
following one of the principal branches of the river. 
Soon they found the water growing salty in taste and 
the current becoming slow, and a few days more 
brought them into the open waters of the Gulf. 

The great journey was completed. The mighty 
river had been traversed from the Falls of St. An- 
thony, well up towards its sources, to the outlet of 
its waters into the Mexican Gulf, and the mystery 
which had brooded over it for nigh on to two centuries 
was at an end. La Salle had won for himself im- 
perishable fame, and the name of the Mississippi has 
since been associated with those of its two daring dis- 
coverers, Hernando de Soto and Robert de la Salle. 

Ascending the west branch till solid ground was 
reached, La Salle planted a massive column engraved 



224 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

with the arms of France, and beside it a great cross, 
while at its foot he buried a leaden plate with a Latin 
inscription telling of the exploit and bearing the date 
of April 9, 1682. The whole country was claimed for 
France, with the valley of the Mississippi and the many 
rivers flowing into it, the vast territory being named 
Louisiana, in honor of Louis XIV., then on the throne 
of France. This done, the voyagers retraced their 
course up the stream with few incidents except a se- 
vere battle with the hostile tribe which had assailed 
them so virulently during their descent. 

La Salle had won success in the face of the deepest 
discouragement. The remainder of his life was to be 
largely a record of misfortune, followed by a violent 
death. Seeking France in 1683 and telling there the 
story of his discovery and of the splendid opportunity 
of planting a colonial empire for France on the fertile 
banks of a great river and in a climate of unceasing 
summer, he was heard with delight and hope, and in 
July of 1684 the port of La Rochelle saw the sailing 
of a small fleet, bearing two hundred and eighty per- 
sons and abundant stores and supplies for the purpose 
of colonizing Louisiana. 

Disaster hovered over the enterprise from the start. 
The colonists were not the sort of people to found a 
successful colony, being composed of undisciplined 
soldiers, ill-trained mechanics, gentlemen volunteers, 
and worst of all a naval commander who managed to 
wreck the whole business by his pride and lack of 
sense. 

From the start there were disputes between La 
Salle and Beaujeau, the naval commander, the latter 
always wrong, but too obstinate to be moved. On 
January 10, 1685, they reached the locality of the 
mouth of the Mississippi, but the fleet passed it, and 



IN AMERICA 225 

Beaujeau refused to return. Finally a bay on the coast 
of Texas was reached, and La Salle, as nothing could 
be done with the self-willed commander of the fleet, 
resolved to land. Now came the greatest misfortune 
of all. The store-ship, abundantly laden with supplies 
of all kinds for the colonists, was wrecked by the care- 
lessness of its pilot and dashed to pieces by a gale of 
wind, the great bulk of its stores being lost. Dis- 
couraged and disheartened, a number of the men de- 
serted to the fleet, which soon sailed away, leaving a 
wretched company of about two hundred and thirty 
gathered in a fort hastily erected from the fragments 
of the wrecked ship. Rarely had the work of coloni- 
zation been started under such discouraging circum- 
stances. 

La Salle was nearly the only man among them with 
courage and resolution. He had a place of shelter built 
in a fertile spot abounding in game and beside waters 
filled with fish. Arms had been saved from the wreck, 
and by their aid the colonists were able to provide 
themselves with food. The stronghold finished, the 
energy of La Salle led him in other directions. He set 
out in canoes to seek the Mississippi, but after an ab- 
sence of four months and the loss of a dozen men he 
returned in rags, the victim of ill fortune. No trace 
of the river had been found. Then, with twenty com- 
panions, he set out on a journey of discovery towards 
New Mexico, hoping to find the rich mines which the 
Spaniards said lay in that region. From this journey 
he returned with no prizes except a few horses and 
some corn and beans. 

But nothing could discourage La Salle. The col- 
onists had suffered from sickness and Indian attacks 
until only some forty remained alive. Determined to 
try and save this feeble remnant of his colony, La Salle 
15 



226 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

now formed the stupendous plan of travelling overland 
from the coast of Texas to Montreal, there to obtain 
aid for the slender company left. Taking with him 
sixteen men, and leaving the others to garrison the 
fort, he set out on foot for far distant Canada, taking 
the horses he had brought from the west to carry the 
needed baggage and supplies. 

Dressed in the skins of animals, wearing shoes made 
of green buffalo hides, and otherwise illy provided for 
their great task, the party followed the streams leading 
northward to the hill country in which they rose. The 
start was made in January, 1687. By mid-March they 
had passed the basin of the Colorado and were on a 
branch of the Trinity River. Here came the tragedy 
in which ended the career of the great explorer. 

La Salle's misfortunes had affected his temper and 
made him stern and harsh. In the party were men of 
mutinous spirit who hated him for his sternness. Two 
of these, named Duhaut and L'Archeveque, while on a 
buffalo hunt with Moranget, a nephew of La Salle, 
quarrelled with and murdered him. Wondering at the 
delay in the return of his nephew, La Salle went in 
search of him, and meeting with the mutineers, La 
Salle asked Duhaut, " Where is my nephew ?" For 
answer Duhaut fired and La Salle fell dead. 

" You are down now, grand bashaw ! you are down 
now!" cried the murderer, and the two despoiled his 
remains, leaving them naked on the prairie, to be de- 
voured by wild beasts. 

Thus, on the 20th of March, 1687, miserably per- 
ished the most daring of French explorers, a man of 
extraordinary resources and unyielding energy, the 
greatest among the discoverers and explorers of the 
Mississippi, and the father of colonization in its vast 
valley. 






IN AMERICA 227 

A few words will complete this story of enterprise 
and crime. The two murderers were themselves killed 
in a quarrel with some of their associates in mutiny, 
the latter then leaving the party to join a band of In- 
dians. Only seven men were left, including the brother 
and another nephew of the slain leader and Joutel, the 
commander of the soldiers, to whom we owe the his- 
tory of the enterprise. These obtained a guide to the 
Arkansas, and finally reached a branch of the Missis- 
sippi, on an island of which, to their joy, they beheld 
a large cross. Near it was a log hut, in which were 
found two Frenchmen, one of them being Tonti, La 
Salle's former faithful companion, who had descended 
thus far in search of his old friend. 

The survivors of the party at length reached Que- 
bec. As for those left in the Texas fort, the most of 
them were killed by the Indians, a few being rescued 
by Spaniards, who had been sent to drive the French 
from soil claimed to belong to Spain. Such was the 
fate of the first French colony in the South. 



228 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 



LEMOYNE D'IBERVILLE AND THE 
FRENCH COLONY IN THE SOUTH 

In 1685 La Salle had sought the mouth of the Mis- 
sissippi in vain. Fourteen years later a more fortunate 
explorer followed in his track, and succeeded in plant- 
ing a successful colony on the borders of the Gulf. 
This was Lemoyne d'Iberville, son of Charles Le 
Moyne, a citizen of Quebec, and an active agent in the 
effort to drive the English from Hudson Bay. His 
son, Iberville, followed him in this work, but in 1698 
transferred his energies to a new field, in the en- 
deavor to succeed where La Salle had failed. 

With his two brothers, Sauvolle and Bienville, and 
a company of two hundred emigrants, chiefly men, but 
a few of them women and children, Iberville set sail 
from the port of Brest in October, 1698. The expedi- 
tion made a hasty start, for colonial enterprise was 
now active among the English, and they might at any 
time seize upon this promising locality. There were 
even reports that a colony of French Huguenots was 
about to be sent there from England, and, to allay sus- 
picion, Iberville gave out that he was bound for the 
Amazon country. 

On December 4 the ships put in to the Spanish port 
of Cape Francois, in the island of San Domingo. A 
man of genial character, Iberville won confidence and 
affection wherever he went. The governor of San 
Domingo received him with a warm welcome, and was 
highly impressed with his judgment and ability. 

Leaving San Domingo on New Year's Day of 1699, 
the expedition sailed past Cuba, and made land on the 
Gulf coast in the evening of the 23d. It was a sandy 



IN AMERICA 229 

coast, and the smoke of fires could be seen inland. 
Three days later, as they cruised to the west with a 
close eye on the land, the masts of vessels were seen 
behind a sandy island and a sloop came out to observe 
the strangers. They proved to be off the harbor of 
Pensacola, which had just been settled by Spaniards 
from Mexico, who as yet held out no welcome to for- 
eign visitors. Iberville had no desire to disturb them 
and kept on his course, being off Mobile Bay in foul 
weather on the 31st, and ten days later seeking shelter 
behind Ship Island, on the Gulf coast. 

On the 27th of February Iberville set out with two 
barges, following the coast westwardly. Three days 
later he found himself among promising indications. 
There were floating tree trunks and turbid waters, 
fresh in taste, while the boats were soon struggling 
against an out-setting current. Rowing upward, Iber- 
ville quickly discovered that he was in the mouth of 
a large river, closed in by a thick green wall of willows 
and canebrakes. As he went on up its channel his 
mind was disturbed by doubts as to its being the Mis- 
sissippi, and he kept a keen lookout for traces of La 
Salle's former presence. To make his own route sure, 
he marked a tree with the cross at every landing place. 

Fires were seen in the distance. Now and then In- 
dians were met, but these paddled away swiftly in 
their canoes. One day the display of trinkets enticed 
a savage, and after that others came out, ready to 
trade meat for shining toys. After some days the site 
of the future city of New Orleans was reached, and 
here Iberville was glad to find a portage leading 
to a large body of water by which their ships might 
quickly be reached. Farther up the stream lay the 
country of the Bayagoulas, a friendly tribe, and they 
were entertained by a chief who wore a serge cloak, 



2 3 o HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

given him, as he made them understand, by a white 
man, like themselves. This went far to dispel their 
doubts, and Iberville for the first time felt sure that 
he was indeed in the great stream he sought, and 
[which he had been the first to enter from the Gulf. 

Farther on dwelt the tribe of the Houmas, and in 
One of its villages a glass bottle was seen, a certain 
evidence of intercourse with the whites. This village 
contained about two hundred cabins, grouped around 
a temple built of logs, palisades surrounding the whole. 
From this point they continued their course upward, 
piloted by Indian guides, and everywhere welcomed 
and feasted by the natives. In some villages they were 
entertained by singing and dancing girls. In return 
they gave presents to their hosts. While assured 
now that he was on the right stream, Iberville looked 
for one more link of evidence. In 1686 Tonti had de- 
scended the Mississippi to its mouth in the hope of 
meeting his chief. Disappointed in this, but trusting 
that La Salle might yet come, he wrote a letter which 
he gave to an Indian chief near the river's mouth, tell- 
ing him that he must give it to a Frenchman who 
was likely to come up the stream. The story of this 
paper had made its way among the tribes, and was 
now told to Iberville. Hoping to find it, and by its 
aid to dispel his last lingering doubt, he turned his 
boats, and soon was swiftly gliding down the stream 
which had been ascended with such labor. 

On reaching the vicinity of the site of New Or- 
leans, Iberville left the stream and crossed with two 
canoes to the body of water he had found on his way 
up, now known as Lake Pontchartrain, hoping to find 
the Gulf and his ships by this route. His brother, 
Bienville, continued downward with the barges, ask- 
ing all the natives he met about the letter. By the 



IN AMERICA 231 

promise of a hatchet it was at length brought forward 
by the old chief who had kept it, and after fourteen 
years fell into the hands of a countryman of him to 
whom it was addressed. The reading of it settled all 
doubts. They were, indeed, on the stream they had 
sought. Bienville reached the ships shortly after his 
brother, bringing the evidence that removed their final 
doubt. 

The river found, it remained to establish the colony 
and send the ships back to France. The place selected 
for the settlement seemed by no means a desirable one, 
being a sandy peninsula at the entrance to a bay. Here 
was no fertile soil on which to raise food for the col- 
ony, but of this little was thought. Some Spanish de- 
serters had told them of mines to the west, and the 
fatal gold fever had attacked them. They expected 
to be fed from home and then pay their way with gold. 
Landing the supplies and arms brought for the col- 
onists, Iberville prepared to depart with the ships, leav- 
ing his brother Sauvolle in command. Under him was 
the youthful Bienville, a boy of eighteen, yet with 
courage and ability that was to stand him in good 
stead during many years of struggle and trial in Louis- 
iana. The settlement, numbering ninety souls in all, 
was named Biloxi, after a neighboring tribe. 

The prospects of the new colony were anything but 
encouraging. The heat, the blinding reflection from 
the sands, the nauseous water, the sparse supply of 
food, and fear of Indian attacks, all worked on the 
minds of the settlers and helped to depress them. The 
Spaniards were also dangerous neighbors and the Eng- 
lish might at any time appear. Bienville, full of youth- 
ful activity, went on a scout eastward and found that 
Pensacola was not very far away. Then he went west 
to the Mississippi and met on its waters an English 



232 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

ship. Its captain he knew, having met him in Hudson 
Bay. The Englishman said that he was seeking for the 
Mississippi. Bienville told him that the French were 
in possession, and he went away without trouble, 
though he said that he might return. His ship was 
the first ever seen on the waters of the great river. 
Fortunately for the French settlers no more English 
appeared. 

Iberville returned before the year was out, bringing 
provisions and sixty bushrangers from Canada. He 
had been directed to explore the country for mines or 
other treasures, and brought with him an adventurer 
named St. Denys and a geologist, Le Sueur. With 
the latter he soon made his way to the Mississippi, 
and a fort was built on the high ground fifty-four miles 
from the Gulf. While at work on it, in February, 
1700, they were surprised by the appearance of Tonti, 
La Salle's old companion, who had made his way down 
the stream with boats loaded with furs and manned by 
Canadians. 

The chief mission of Le Sueur was to learn if there 
was any value in certain deposits of " green earth" 
which he had found near the upper Mississippi some 
years before, when he had spent several years among 
the Sioux. With twenty men and some Indian guides 
the geologist set out in search of this. Passing up the 
whole known length of the river to the Falls of St. 
Anthony, he followed the Minnesota River to the 
green earth locality. Loading his canoes with this 
material, he set off down-stream in May, 1701. But 
misfortune followed him, and he never saw his mines 
again, the Sioux growing hostile and driving off his 
men. As for the lading of green earth, it probably 
went to the river's bottom, for no statement of its value 
was made. 



IN AMERICA 233 

Iberville soon followed Le Sueur up-stream, leaving 
the low country, and reaching higher lands in the. do- 
main of the Natchez Indians, an Indian nation of pe- 
culiar character. They worshipped the sun, and had 
temples and priests and a high chief, — the Great Sun 
they called him, — who had great power over his sub- 
jects. Of this interesting people we shall only say 
here that their friendliness to the French was ill re- 
quited, for in later years they were treated so un- 
justly that they broke into revolt, the result being that 
the whole nation was destroyed. 

By the time at which we have now arrived, the 
spring of 1700, the French were becoming more fa- 
miliar with the Mississippi, and several parties had 
passed up and down its waters. Bienville, with Tonti 
and St. Denys for companions, made a journey of sev- 
eral hundred miles up the Red River, to find if the 
Spanish of Mexico had posts upon it, while Iberville 
took steps to keep the English from reaching the Mis- 
sissippi, if they should push their way to the west. 
This done, in May, 1700, the founder of the colony 
set out again for France in the interests of the set- 
tlers, returning in December, 1701. He found a pop- 
ulation of about one hundred and fifty discouraged and 
discontented souls in the unhealthy settlement at Bi- 
loxi, where Sauvolle had died of fever, leaving his 
young brother Bienville in command. 

The situation was so bad that a change had to be 
made, and a more healthy site was chosen at the 
head of the Bay of Mobile, where a fort had already 
been built. Iberville*^ active labors had not proved 
of advantage to his health, and he was a sick man 
when, in 1702, he left for France, never to return. Ill- 
ness prevented his coming in 1703. In 1706 he was in 
the West Indies in command of a fleet sent to drive 



234 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

the English from those islands, but here death put a 
final end to his enterprise. 

Iberville, on his last departure from Biloxi, had left 
the colony in anything but a flourishing condition. It 
consisted then of scarcely thirty families, inhabiting a 
dreary and noxious coast region, unfit for cultivation 
even if the people had shown any inclination for farm- 
ing. As it was, they spent their time in search of 
pearls, mines, and buffalo wool, looking to France for 
food and other supplies. 

We may briefly review the later history of the col- 
ony. The departure of Iberville in 1702 left his brother 
Bienville, then only twenty-one years of age, in full 
control. For many years later this energetic young 
man was to be the vital spirit in Louisiana, though not 
always its governor. In 1716, ten years after the 
death of Iberville, the population of Louisiana had 
increased to only about seven hundred souls, and the 
colony was by no means flourishing. But the Mis- 
sissippi had become a channel of travel between the 
lakes and the Gulf, traders bringing deerskins and 
furs down it in large quantities, while posts — some of 
which were in time to develop into cities — had been 
established on its banks. The beginning had been 
made, though the end was distant. 

An active development of Louisiana began in 1717, 
as a result of the operations of John Law, the famous 
financier of France. This adventurer organized an 
association named " The Company of the West," or, 
as it is usually called, " The Mississippi Company." 
Its capital was fixed at one hundred million livres. A 
great colony was to be founded, the resources of the 
country, agricultural and mineral, were to be developed, 
and the shattered finances of France to be restored 
through the profits of this enterprise. Bienville was 



IN AMERICA 235 

appointed governor-general, and was expected to pro- 
duce great wealth from the fields and mines of the 
province. Six thousand white settlers and three thou- 
sand black slaves were to be sent out, and it was hoped 
that the colony would flourish like the rose. Un- 
luckily, the company began by sending out vagrants 
and criminals, a class of people that Louisiana had 
been better without. 

As yet the principal settlement had been at Mobile, 
but in 1 71 8 Bienville decided to start a trading-post on 
the Mississippi. The most suitable place was a spot 
about one hundred miles from the Gulf, where, in a 
curve of the stream, the banks rose about ten feet 
high. Elsewhere the shores were low and subject to 
overflow, and here the traders' cabins soon began to 
rise, several hundred colonists coming out during the 
year. In this modest way began what is now the pop- 
ulous city of New Orleans. 

Meanwhile John Law's wild operations were ap- 
proaching their end. In December, 1720, the great bub- 
ble he had blown up burst, and ruin came to trusting 
millions in France. It was June of the next year be- 
fore the news of this catastrophe reached Louisiana, 
where it caused the greatest alarm. But the colony 
had been put on a solid basis, and was now safe from 
disaster. In five years the Mississippi Company sent 
out seven thousand white settlers and six hundred 
negro slaves. Though the mines were not found, ag- 
riculture and trade became active, and all seemed going 
well. 

Bienville made New Orleans the capital of his prov- 
ince in 1722. In 1743, then sixty-two years of age, 
and weary of a career that had been full of trouble 
and annoyance, he retired, leaving in Louisiana a pop- 
ulation of about six thousand, whites and slaves. The 



236 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

great prosperity he had looked for had not come, but 
New Orleans had built up a considerable trade, and 
in the days to come the city he had founded was to 
grow into one of the great marts of commerce of the 
land. 

It may be stated, in closing this story of discovery 
and settlement, that in 1763, twenty years after Bien- 
ville's return to France, the city of New Orleans and 
all the French territory west of the Mississippi River 
were ceded to Spain, when France gave up all her 
possessions on the North American continent after 
the French and Indian War. France obtained posses- 
sion again in 1801, but in 1803 Napoleon ceded the 
whole region to the United States. 



IN AMERICA 237 



SIEUR DE VERENDRYE AND THE SEA 
OF THE WEST 

Of all the hopes that filled the souls of the ex- 
plorers of America none were more persistent than 
that of discovering a great western sea. We have 
found this leading Lane, Smith, Hudson, Champlain, 
and others to river journeys into the interior. These 
hopes survived until far later years. Even when the 
country had been penetrated as far as the Mississippi, 
and shown to be of great width, every westward point- 
ing river was looked upon as a possible channel to 
the vast Pacific. The Missouri in particular, from its 
abundant flow, seemed full of promise, and from the 
days of Marquette onward there were plans or efforts 
to ascend its turbid current. 

Of the three nations which took a principal part 
in the discovery and settlement of the New World, — 
England, Spain, and France, — the adventurous sons of 
France were far the most earnest and enthusiastic in 
geographical discovery. The early Spaniards were dar- 
ing and active in exploring the new-found continent, 
but their labors were solely given to the quest of gold- 
bearing El Dorados, rich empires like those of Mex- 
ico and Peru. Discovery for its own sake alone did 
not trouble their sordid souls. The English, on the 
contrary, devoted themselves to developing the ag- 
ricultural resources of the country, and only as new 
fertile soil was needed did they push deeper into the 
land. Of geographical research for itself they cared 
little, and their few attempts at this — like those of 
John Smith and Henry Hudson — were efforts of a 
few months at the most. 



238 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

The French in the New World showed a very differ- 
ent spirit. In adventurous daring and persistent ex- 
ploration they left their rivals far in the rear. Men 
like Champlain, La Salle, and others of the early 
French stand alone in their unceasing efforts to ex- 
tend the boundaries of geographical knowledge. The 
names of numbers of men might be given the best 
years of whose lives were spent in travel in the 
wilderness, and we owe to these daring heroes of 
adventure a far more rapid acquaintance with the 
geographical features of the continent than would 
otherwise have been attained. The fur-hunters, the 
wood-rangers, the river and lake voyagers, who freely 
associated with the natives and adopted their woodland 
ways, made many contributions to this knowledge ; but 
the chief workers in this field were those enthusiasts 
who gave their lives to the cause. The work of some 
of these has been described. There is one less known, 
but not less worthy, of whom we must here speak. 

Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, Sieur de Verendrye, 
was an American by birth, born in the town of Three 
Rivers, on the St. Lawrence, of whose governor he 
was the son. He became a soldier of varied activi- 
ties. In the colonial wars he took part in raids on the 
New England settlements, and he was once left for 
dead on a battle-field in Flanders, where he fought as 
a soldier of fortune. He was nearly fifty years of age 
when he began that career as a discoverer to which 
he gave the remainder of his life. It was the great 
salt sea of the West, or a vast intermediate lake, to 
the discovery of which his efforts were mainly di- 
rected. 

In 1727 Verendrye was put in charge of a fort on 
Lake Nipigon, lying north of Lake Superior. Here 
he heard from the Indians the story which they had 



IN AMERICA 239 

told to earlier generations, of a river flowing to the 
west and a mighty lake of salt water at its mouth. 
The desire was then born in him to lay bare the secrets 
which were hidden in the unknown west, and he made 
his way to Quebec to lay his plans before the govern- 
ment and obtain aid and support. The tale he had to 
tell came to him from Pako, an Indian chief, who had 
an enticing story of a vast lake in the region of the 
sunset whose waters flowed in three directions, one 
river carrying them to Hudson Bay, a second to the 
Mississippi, and a third to the remote west. The lat- 
ter stream had a tidal ebb and flow and poured its 
waters into a great salt sea, on the shores of which a 
race of dwarfs dwelt. A belief of this kind was com- 
mon among the Indians of that day. The English at 
Hudson Bay were told of rivers flowing to a great 
western ocean where ships sailed with men who wore 
beards. One half-breed said that he had seen this 
ocean, with large black fish sporting in its waves. 

Verendrye gathered from the stories told him that 
the central lake, with its three outflowing streams, was 
only about twenty days' journey from Fort Nipigon, 
and could be reached in a few months from Montreal. 
As it proved, the government had less faith than he 
in the romancing Indians. The utmost the king would 
do was to grant him a monopoly of the fur-trade in 
this wild region if he could get merchants to aid him. 
In the end a company was formed to trade with the 
western tribes. 

It was on the 8th of June, 173 1, that Verendrye and 
his companions set out in canoes from Montreal on a 
long journey into the unknown. He had with him his 
three sons, Father Messager, a Jesuit missionary, and 
a number of boatmen and hunters. Equipped for the 
journey by the fur-company, he was expected to live 



240 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

by hunting and trading for furs, to seek the great 
lake and the western ocean, and to claim the country 
for the king. 

He reached the waters of Lake Superior by mid- 
summer, and left them in late August, making his way 
to the west. His immediate goal was the lake called 
by the Indians Ouinipigon (now Winnipeg), which 
reports made him look upon as an expansion of the 
central lake he sought. Winter was spent on Pigeon 
River, where he built a fort to protect his supplies, 
leaving men to guard it as he pushed onward the 
next spring. Rainy Lake was passed and by July the 
Lake of the Woods was reached. On the west side of 
this far interior body of water he built a stockade 
named Fort St. Charles, and spent there the second 
winter of his long and arduous journey. 

Canoes laden with furs were sent back to Montreal, 
with an account of the progress he had made, and by 
September of 1733 some supplies reached him from 
the company. Beauharnois, the governor of New 
France, took much interest in his exploits, but this was 
not the case with the king and his government. Stories 
reached France of the hardships and perils the party 
had met and of the death of Verendrye's nephew, and 
the expedition seems to have been looked upon as the 
hopeless effort of an over-enthusiastic adventurer, who 
ought not to be encouraged. 

Meanwhile Verendrye continued his efforts. In the 
spring of 1734 he sent one of his sons to build a fort 
on Lake Winnipeg at the mouth of the river flowing 
from the Lake of the Woods. This he named Fort 
Maurepas. Later in that year he returned to Mon- 
treal to consult with the company, but by the autumn 
of 1735 he was back at Fort St. Charles. The condi- 
tions he found there were discouraging. Food had 



IN AMERICA 241 

grown so scarce that famine was prostrating the gar- 
rison. The perils of the enterprise increased as the 
months and years passed on, one of his sons was 
killed by a war-party of the Sioux Indians, and by 1737 
disasters accumulated to such an extent that he de- 
spaired of success and felt inclined to abandon the 
whole project. 

Ten years had passed since the romances of the In- 
dians had first aroused the ambition of discovery in 
his mind, six years since he had begun his hopeful 
journey from Montreal, and he had yet advanced only 
a few hundred miles westward from Lake Nipigon, 
while the hopes of further progress grew daily more 
faint in his mind. In October he advised the powers 
at Montreal that his losses in men and stores had 
been so great that he was disposed to abandon the 
enterprise. 

But this was not the true spirit of the adventurers 
of New France, and in the next year, 1738, we find 
Verendrye inspired with fresh hopes. The Indians 
about Fort St. Charles had regaled him with fresh 
tales of western wonders, telling him that on the great 
river he sought were walled towns, peopled by whites. 
These men had no fire-arms, but they worked in iron 
and wore iron armor. On the Missouri lived a strange 
tribe called the Mandans, who were likely to know 
the way to the distant sea and could furnish him with 
guides to its waters. 

Verendrye, his old hopes revived, decided that the 
Mandans must be visited. In the summer of 1738 he 
set out from Fort Maurepas, passing in canoes up the 
Red River of the North and turning into the Assini- 
boine, on which he built another fort which he named 
Fort La Reine. This was one more of the various 
forts which he scattered about during his career, as 
16 



242 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

centres of dominion and of the trade in furs. He was 
making his track secure as he went. 

On the 1 8th of October, 1738, he set out on his long 
overland journey to the Missouri, with a party of 
fifty men in all, some of them Indians. Nearly seventy 
years before Marquette and Joliet had fancied, from 
the great body of water that poured from its mouth, 
that this broad stream might be the main channel to 
the western sea. French adventurers had explored its 
lower waters, but Verendrye was now to strike it far 
up its channel, where dwelt that peculiar tribe of 
which he had been told. 

It was on the 3d of December that he entered a 
village of the Mandans. Were they Indians? They 
did not look like them, many of them being of light 
complexion, and numbers of their women having 
flaxen hair. Their features also differed from those of 
ordinary Indians, and their habitations and customs 
were unlike those of the tribes he had known. In 
later years they were often spoken of as the white 
Indians, and some observers thought that the blood 
of the whites ran in their veins. 

Verendrye made but a short stay among this inter- 
esting people. He questioned them closely, and was 
told by them that white men who rode horses and 
wore iron armor when they fought dwelt only a day's 
journey off. These were probably the Spaniards of 
New Mexico — dwelling in fact many days' journey 
away. What he learned about the western sea we are 
not told. He took formal possession of their country 
in the king's name, — they knowing nothing of what 
the ceremonies meant, — left two men with them to 
learn their language and what else they could, and 
set off for La Reine fort, suffering more from fatigue 
during the journey than ever before. 



IN AMERICA 243 

The two men left among the Mandans returned in 
September of the following year. Their story was 
that while they were there some men from a western 
tribe had come to the village to trade. These told 
them that men with pale faces like their own and 
wearing beards lived near their home. They built 
forts of brick and stone and mounted them with can- 
non. They had oxen and horses, wore cotton cloth- 
ing, cultivated grain, worshipped the cross, and had 
books with which they prayed. Near where they 
dwelt was a great water, which rose and fell and 
which no one could drink. The best we can conjec- 
ture is that these Indians had some knowledge of the 
Spaniards of California. 

Verendrye soon after made his way to- Montreal, 
where he spent two years in efforts to straighten out 
his affairs, which were in a bad shape. He was at 
La Reine again in 1741, and the next year sent his 
sons on a new expedition. They sought the Mandan 
towns, and went on far to the west, passing from 
tribe to tribe. Everywhere they heard of the great 
sea, but it always appeared to lie in the territory of 
the next tribe. At length, on the 1st of January, 1743, 
they came to the outlying ridges of the Rocky Moun- 
tains. The cliffs seen were perhaps those of the Big 
Horn Range, near the sources of the Yellowstone. 
" Well wooded and very high," they seemed to the 
travellers, but these little dreamed of the vastness of 
the rolling mountain-ranges upon which they were the 
first of white men to gaze. Still less did they dream 
of the many hundred miles of mountain and plain 
which lay between them and the sea they sought. 

Returning to the banks of the Missouri by the spring 
of 1743, the discoverers of the Rockies buried there a 
leaden plate engraved with the royal arms. They 



244 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

reached La Reine in July, after an absence of fifteen 
months, during which they had gone far beyond the 
utmost outpost of former travel and reached the foot- 
hills of the mighty mountain-barrier of the west. 

With this discovery of his sons ends the record of 
Verendrye's explorations. Misfortunes harassed his 
few remaining years. He told the ministers of the 
government of the discoveries he had made, the forts 
he had built, and the new discoveries that awaited 
those with the daring to seek them, but he could not 
move them to come to his assistance. His sons went 
to Quebec with a similar purpose, but neither the offi- 
cials nor the merchants would listen to their words. 
Verendrye's fur-trading enterprise had not been suc- 
cessful and the dealers were not willing to risk any 
more money. The wearied and worn-out explorer died 
at Three Rivers, the place of his birth, on the 6th 
of December, 1749, after a career of persistent research 
which compares well with that of any of the American 
pioneers. 

Verendrye dead, La Jonquiere, then governor of 
Canada, decided to follow up his researches, and the 
younger son of the explorer, one of the discoverers of 
the Rocky Mountains, sought an appointment to this 
work. But the governor had plans of his own, com- 
mercial as well as geographical, and the son of the 
dead hero was rejected, Legardeur de St. Pierre being 
chosen for the task. 

St. Pierre was experienced in forest lore. He came 
of a race of foresters and for many years had him- 
self been a wood-ranger. But he lacked the whole- 
souled enthusiasm of Verendrye, and though he was 
three years absent (1750-1753), he had barren results 
to show. The hardships of the journey were too much 
for him, and he went no farther than Fort La Reine. 



IN AMERICA 245 

From that point he sent out a party to the Saskatche- 
wan, who ascended that stream to the Rocky Moun- 
tains, they being the first to give the name of Rocky 
to the range. They built a fort three hundred miles 
above the river's mouth, but soon abandoned it and 
fell back to La Reine. 

It was in October, 1753, that St. Pierre returned to 
Quebec, with very little to show for his three years 
of absence. Other French explorers were out at the 
same time, some of them seeking the sources of the 
Mississippi. But war with the English began in 1754, 
and with it all the researches of the French came to an 
end. Under the treaty of peace of 1763 New France 
ceased to exist, and English succeeded French rule in 
Canada. From that date geographical research ceased 
in Canada, except that conducted in the interest of the 
Hudson Bay Company, 



246 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

VITUS BERING AND THE DISCOVERY 
OF BERING SEA 

Much has been said about the discovery of north- 
west and northeast passages, and of the various peo- 
ple who undertook to find them, and just here it may 
be well to say precisely what these passages signify. 
It was found in time that the continent of America 
was complete from Labrador to the Strait of Ma- 
gellan, and that there was no place where a ship could 
sail across it into the Pacific Ocean, on its way to 
India and the East. But there were waters north of 
the continent, and it was hoped that by sailing to the 
northwest an open passage might be found to the 
Pacific on the north like that of the Strait of Magel- 
lan on the south. It was also thought that by sailing 
to the northeast, and passing north of Europe and 
Asia, a passage to the Pacific might be found much 
shorter than that by way of Africa and the Cape of 
Good Hope. 

Such were the famous northwest and northeast 
passages which were sought for centuries in vain. 
In fact, it was not known that the Pacific could be 
reached at all by this route. America appeared to 
stretch in its northern part far to the west and Asia 
far to the east, and no one knew but that they might 
join together and no body of water exist between them. 
In that case a vessel traversing either of those pas- 
sages would have to pass north of all the continents of 
America, Asia, and Europe, and come out into the 
Atlantic from which it started. Here was a question 
which was not settled until 1728, when Vitus Bering, 
a bold Danish mariner, sailed north in the Pacific and 



IN AMERICA 247 

discovered the narrow channel, only thirty-six miles 
wide at its narrowest point, which separates America 
from Asia. Until that date it was not known that 
America was a completely separate continent. It is to 
Bering that we owe this discovery, and therefore the 
story of his voyage is of importance to us all. 

Bering, or Behring, — for his name will be found 
with both these spellings, — was born in Denmark in 
1680. But though a son of that land of famous sea- 
kings, most of his life was spent in Russia, the navy 
of which he entered while quite young. Here he won 
renown in the war with Sweden, and in 1724, when 
Peter the Great wished to settle the eastern boundaries 
of his kingdom, he picked out Vitus Bering for the 
work. 

Siberia had been discovered and conquered by the 
Cossack brigand Irmak, between 1560 and 1580, as far 
as the Obi River. Thence others pushed eastward in 
search of gold and furs, and in 1706 the peninsula of 
Kamtchatka was discovered and added to the Russian 
Empire. But how much farther Siberia might extend 
in the north no one knew. The whole question about 
the borders of Asia and America was a mystery. 
Nothing was known of the Pacific north of Japan on 
the Asiatic side and nothing north of Drake's " New 
Albion" on the American side. Some believed that 
the two continents were joined, a land-bridge passing 
from one to the other. Others thought that they were 
separated. But no one knew anything about it, and it 
was for this reason that Peter the Great wished to 
learn where his empire ended on the east, and chose 
the Danish navigator to try and find out. In those 
days Russia had no mariners of experience and skill 
of her own, and Peter himself had gone to Holland 
to learn how a ship should be built. 



248 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

It was no small task that lay before the modern vi- 
king. He was to start from the eastern shore of 
Kamtchatka and see if any strait between the conti- 
nents could be discovered. But the starting-point of 
the expedition was St. Petersburg, and between this 
city and the Kamtchatkan peninsula lay some five 
thousand miles of largely unknown country, more than 
half of it a wild wilderness, inhabited by savage tribes, 
and with no Russians except a few outpost dwellers, 
mainly Cossack barbarians. To cross Siberia in those 
days was a venture fit to try the stoutest souls, and 
many were the troubles through which the bold Dane 
passed before he reached Kamtchatka and began the 
building of his stout little ship, the " Gabriel." 

The building of the ship itself was no trifle in that 
remote outpost of the empire, destitute of any conveni- 
ences for the work, and to which the necessary tools, 
rigging, and supplies had to be transported from far 
distant Russia. The ship, built at a point near Cape 
Kamtchatka, was finally launched in the summer of 
1728. Supplies on board and anchor raised, the sails 
were set to the wind, and the little bark glided away 
on its route to the north, keeping within sight of the 
coast as it went. On the nth of August land was 
seen to the eastward, this proving to be an island which 
Bering named St. Lawrence. On the 14th was seen, 
in 190 E. longitude, the cape now known as East 
Cape, and which forms the most easterly extremity of 
Asia. Not knowing this, Bering sailed on to the north, 
leaving the cape behind and coming into what seemed 
an open sea, with no land in sight. The American 
coast, some forty miles away, was not visible from his 
deck. For a day longer he sailed on into the Arctic 
Sea, then turned and came back, still without seeing 
the American coast. 



IN AMERICA 249 

Bering was satisfied that he had completed his 
work. He believed that he had found the end of Asia 
and proven that no bridge of land joined the conti- 
nents. That he was correct later voyages made clear, 
and the strait through which he passed is rightly- 
known by his name, while the sea south of it is also 
named after him, under the title of Bering Sea. 

He had discovered the extremity of Peter the 
Great's empire, though Peter was never to know it, 
for he had died three years before. But there was 
much still to be done. The great project of charting 
the whole northern coast of Siberia was planned out. 
The western shore of America, to which Bering had 
come so near without seeing it, was to be discovered 
and explored. For all that was known a great open 
sea might lie between the two continents. This ques- 
tion was settled in 1732, when Gvosdjeff, a Russian 
sea-captain, sailed into the strait and discovered the 
American coast, and the real narrowness of the di- 
viding line between the continents became known. 

Much had been done with the small resources at the 
command of the navigators, but before a longer voy- 
age could be undertaken better facilities were needed. 
To supply these the town of Petropavlosk in Kam- 
tchatka, was founded as a base of operations, and two 
ships, named the " St. Peter" and " St. Paul," were 
built. These were larger and better-appointed vessels 
tnan the little " Gabriel," and in command of them 
Bering set out on his second voyage of exploration 
in 1 741. 

His course lay at first to the southeast. Some map- 
makers of the period had found in their fancies a new 
land, called by them Gamaland, and supposed by them 
to lie somewhere in the Pacific eastward from Japan. 
Bering looked for this imaginary island or continent 



250 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

in vain, sailing south to 46 N. latitude and to near 
the 180th degree of longitude. This bootless search 
caused him to miss the Aleutian Islands, since he next 
steered to the northeast and came upon the coast of 
Alaska at the point where looms in view the lofty peak 
of Mount St. Elias. 

In the return of the expedition a more direct route 
was taken, and the long chain of the Aleutian Islands 
discovered. As these are practically mountain-peaks, 
ascending from the sea-bottom and continuing the 
main Alaskan mountain-range into the ocean, they are 
held to be a portion of America and to constitute its 
most westerly extremity. Thus was completed the dis- 
covery of this section of the North American continent. 

Bering's return was a chapter of misfortunes. Pro- 
visions ran short and hunger attacked the crew. With 
it came the dread disease of scurvy, the bane of the 
mariner in those days. Their ill fortune culminated in 
a wreck, a storm throwing Bering's vessel on a desert 
island in the easterly section of the Aleutian group 
and about one hundred miles from the Kamtchatkan 
coast. Here scurvy and ague attacked the daring navi- 
gator, and he died in the midst of his discoveries. The 
scene of his death has since been known as Bering 
Island. 

Death came to many of his sailors as well as to 
himself, while the survivors, saved from starvation by 
eating the sea-otters and foxes which they found on 
the island, built a rude vessel out of the fragments 
of the wreck, and succeeded in getting back to Petro- 
pavlosk, from which they had set sail. Nor did they 
return empty handed, since they brought with them 
the furs of the otters and foxes they had killed and 
eaten on Bering Island. 

Shall we go on to tell how Russia gained a footing 



IN AMERICA 251 

in America? The valuable sea-otter furs led to this. 
Adventurers, who were little better than freebooters, 
began to cross to the Aleutian Islands in search of 
furs, the sea-otters being there very plentiful, while 
China was ready to purchase their furs at high prices. 
In time the roving fur-traders were followed by col- 
onists, who founded trading-posts on several of the 
islands, and pushed on from point to point until the 
American coast was reached and occupied. 

The early fur-seekers had been very cruel to the 
natives, and when the colonists came the coast In- 
dians looked upon them as enemies. Missionaries 
were brought over, Greek churches were built, and an 
effort was made to save the souls of the poor sav- 
ages. But it cannot be said that much effort was 
made to save their bodies, which were more to them 
than their souls. Certainly they found the newcomers 
more of oppressors than of Christian friends. 

This first colony in Alaska was not a prosperous 
one, and its people were not thrifty. They could not 
raise any food from the earth, for the land was too 
cold for that, being laden with ice for much of the 
year, so their only occupation was that of hunting 
otters and seals for their furs. And the settlers were 
little more than vassals of the Russian dealers, while 
the Indians were treated as if they were slaves. 

One of the trading-posts was founded on the large 
island of Unalaska about 1773, and another on the 
island of Kadiak in 1783, and by 1789 there were eight 
of these posts, with some two hundred and fifty Rus- 
sian colonists. Sitka was founded at a later date to 
check the enterprise of the people of the Hudson Bay 
Company, who were looking for furs in these quarters. 
These posts were long controlled by private dealers, 
but in 1799 the Russian-American Company was 



252 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

formed under the sanction of the emperor, and from 
that time on it was the power in this region, to which 
the name of Russian America came to be applied. The 
company had its head-quarters on Kadiak, but after- 
wards removed them to Sitka. Its claims grew ex- 
tensive as the years passed on, since it declared that 
the whole western coast of America, from Bering 
Strait down to and beyond the mouth of the Colum- 
bia River, was Russian territory. 

It is an interesting fact that these Russian claims 
had a share in causing the Monroe Doctrine to be pro- 
claimed. This is how it came about. The western 
coast as far south as California was not occupied, and 
Russia showed a disposition to seize it as her own. In 
182 1 the Emperor Alexander issued an ukase in which 
he claimed the whole northwest coast down to the 
51st parallel of north latitude, and even forbade 
any foreign vessel to come within one hundred miles 
of its shores. A Russian settlement had also been 
made on the coast of California, and it seemed likely, 
if Mexico should gain its freedom from Spain, that 
Russia would take possession of California. 

This act of Russia was a main cause of the dec- 
laration in the Monroe Doctrine that the American 
continents are not to be considered as open to future 
colonization by any foreign power. The Russian 
claim was settled, however, before the Monroe Doc- 
trine was issued. The autocrat of Russia did not 
care much for his American possessions, which seemed 
then of very little value. So when a protest was made 
by the American minister he readily withdrew his 
claim, and the southern limit of Russian America was 
fixed at the parallel of 54° 40'. 

In 1867, when the United States offered to pur- 
chase the whole of Russian America for $7,200,000 in 



IN AMERICA 253 

gold, the Russian emperor was quite willing to sell, 
probably thinking he was getting a good price for an 
unprofitable piece of land. If Alaska, as this country 
is now called, were in the market to-day, one hundred 
times this figure would doubtless be considered too 
low a price. To the Russians it was valued only as 
a fur-yielding country. Furs are still obtained there, 
but its great value to the United States is for its fish- 
eries, its abundant timber, and its gold and other min- 
erals, the full extent and abundance of which is still 
far from known. 



254 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 



THE HUDSON BAY COMPANY AND THE 
WORK OF THE FUR-HUNTERS 

We have elsewhere given the first chapter in the 
history of Hudson Bay, that great ocean cup which 
dips far down from the Arctic Sea into the north- 
east section of America, reaching from the realm of 
ice well down towards the Great Lakes. We have 
told how Henry Hudson, its discoverer and explorer, 
was set adrift on its waters by his mutinous crew, to 
perish by storm or hunger. Expeditions were sent out 
in the following three years in search of the famous 
discoverer, but no trace of him was ever found. 

This much was found, that this section of North 
America was one of the richest fur-bearing lands in 
the world. It was not long before the daring wood- 
rangers of France were making their way far into 
the forests and up the streams, trading with the In- 
dians for furs. Miles did not count with them in their 
eagerness for trade, and the shores of Hudson Bay 
were not too far distant for their footsteps to reach. 
This state of affairs troubled the English, who also 
had a fancy for furs and the gold they brought in, 
and in 1670 Prince Rupert, the dashing cavalry hero 
of the English civil war, asked the king, his cousin, 
to give him and some of his friends the territory of 
Hudson Bay and grant them the sole right to its trade 
and commerce. 

Charles II. did not hesitate. He was always ready 
to give away lands to which he had no better title 
than to the mountains of the moon. Ten years later 
he gave to William Penn the great province of Penn- 



IN AMERICA 255 

sylvania, and he freely gave away other sections which 
he did not own. So Rupert and his friends were 
granted all they asked, and the famous Hudson Bay 
Company was formed, with the full right to all the 
products of that country, which was long known as 
Rupert's Land. 

A rich land it was for the fur-hunter, a mighty pre- 
serve, as we are told, " for fur-bearing animals and for 
Indians who might hunt and trap them." Here the 
beaver built on every favorable stream, and here lived 
multitudes of " otters, martens, musk-rats, and all the 
other species of amphibious creatures, with countless 
herds of buffaloes, moose, bears, deer, foxes, and 
wolves." 

Verily, for those who wanted furs, here was the 
place to seek them, and the company was not long in 
setting up trading-stations on the shores of the bay, 
and soon its agents were shipping to London vast 
quantities of furs bought from the Indians for a mere 
fraction of their value. But it cannot be said that 
Rupert and his friends got much profit from their 
trade. On the contrary, it was a losing game, and 
before 1700 they were more than a million dollars out 
of pocket. 

This happened because they held a disputed claim. 
It was not disputed by the Indians, who were the orig- 
inal owners, but by the French, who maintained that 
their settlement on the St. Lawrence gave them the 
right to all the country lying north and west of Que- 
bec and Montreal. It was not long, then, before they 
were sending war-parties to the north and knocking 
to pieces the English forts. Now these were taken by 
the French and now they were taken back by the Eng- 
lish, and there was no end of trouble. Among the 
parties engaged in this was Iberville, the founder of 



256 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

Louisiana, and there were others as active as he, so 
that the Hudson Bay Company found its claim a costly 
one to hold. 

This thing came largely to an end in 171 3, when 
the war between England and France ceased, and, in 
the treaty of Utrecht, Hudson Bay and the country for 
many miles to the south were ceded to England. But 
for long after that the Company did not show any 
enterprise. While the French were making their way 
for hundreds of miles inland in search of furs, the 
English kept close to the shores of the bay and waited 
for the Indians to come to them. As late as 1749 there 
were only four or five trading-posts on the coast, with 
about one hundred and twenty traders, and some en- 
vious persons made an effort to take from the Com- 
pany its charter, as a " non-user." 

In 1763 the great war between the English and 
French colonies ended in a treaty which gave to Eng- 
land the whole of Canada. The region of fur animals 
now belonged to the new owners of the country, who 
did not show any lack of enterprise. They were as 
daring and adventurous as the French had been before 
them, — many of them, indeed, being the French who 
continued to live in the country under English rule. 
They penetrated the country in every direction, going 
far into the northwest and not hesitating to seek furs 
in the territory of the Hudson Bay Company. These 
individuals at length combined into the Northwest Fur 
Company of Montreal, and from that time for many 
years there was a fierce competition between the two 
companies, the Hudson Bay Company being now thor- 
oughly wakened up. 

It is not the disputes and conflicts of these two com- 
panies that we are here concerned with, but the dis- 
coveries to which the search for fur-bearing animals 



IN AMERICA 257 

led, so we shall say no more about the struggles of 
the companies, but go back to our main subject. 

At the start, as was above stated, the Hudson Bay 
Company's agents waited for the Indians to bring 
them furs. But this was not the French way, and the 
agents after a while found, if they wanted a fair 
share of the trade, they must go after the furs them- 
selves. So they began to make long journeys into 
the interior, seeking the natives in their villages, learn- 
ing their languages, and adapting themselves to their 
way of life. It was hard to carry civilization into the 
wilderness, and on their trips these adventurers had to 
live like the savages. After 1763, when the fur-hunt- 
ers from Montreal became more enterprising and dar- 
ing, those of the Company had to keep pace with them 
and go still farther into the land. And this led to the 
discoveries of which we propose to speak. 

When the Hudson Bay Company was formed the 
idea of finding a northwest passage to India was still 
very much alive, and to discover this passage was one 
of the things the Company was expected to do. But 
it did not trouble itself to do anything of the kind. 
It was kept too busy in gathering furs and in fighting 
off the French, It was also expected to settle the 
country granted it, and thus form a great English 
colony in the north. This also it did not try to do. 
Colonists would interfere with the fur-trade, and the 
fur-trade was the life of the Company. So the most it 
ever did was to build posts at Hudson Bay and at 
points through the wilderness, where the hunters 
could bring in their furs and exchange them for goods. 
There were also ships to carry the forest spoil to Lon- 
don and a warehouse there to store it in, and that 
was all that was done. 

The Company was formed to make money and did 
17 



258 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

not want the outside world to know too well what it 
was doing in the wilderness, so colonists were not 
invited, and only its own agents found a welcome at its 
posts. But among those agents were many daring and 
enterprising men, and important discoveries were 
made in that vast frozen region of the north. Two of 
the fur-hunters rank with the great discoverers, and of 
these two we wish to speak. One of them was an 
agent of the Hudson Bay Company and the other of 
the Northwest Company. 

Furs were not the only things brought in by the 
natives. Some of them brought fragments of copper- 
ore. When asked where these came from, they spoke 
vaguely of a great river in the north where plenty of 
such material could be found. From this the river, 
which no white man had yet seen, came to be called 
the Coppermine River, and the agents of the Company 
grew eager to find it and discover its mines of ore. 
At length, in 1769, the Company's head man on Hud- 
son Bay chose one of his trustiest people and sent him 
into the wilderness in search of the river and its 
mines. 

Samuel Hearne was the name of this man. He had 
been a midshipman in the British navy, had proved 
himself a daring dealer with the Indians, and was 
fond enough of adventure to welcome this perilous 
task. Taking with him some Indian guides, he plunged 
into the wilderness, living as they lived, fasting when 
food animals were scarce, and feasting when they were 
plentiful, for he and his guides had to live largely on 
the produce of the land. Many were the miles they 
traversed, many the hardships they endured, but the 
farther they went the farther away the Coppermine 
River seemed. Twice Hearne sought it in vain, but 
he was one of the men who do not give up, and on the 



IN AMERICA 259 

third attempt he reached its banks. He found the 
stream only to be disappointed, for no copper worth 
gathering appeared on its shores. 

The persevering traveller had many adventures and 
passed through many new scenes. Tribe after tribe 
was visited, of different habits, some of them incura- 
bly savage, but with them all the pipe of peace was a 
sacred emblem, and when he had once smoked it with 
them in their huts he was an honored guest, welcome 
to the best they possessed. But to most of them a 
white man was a being unknown, and they viewed his 
white skin and light hair with the deepest curiosity. 

Hearne had supposed that the Coppermine ran into 
Hudson Bay. He discovered that it ran into the Arc- 
tic Ocean, and in the true spirit of a discoverer he 
followed it to its mouth, at a point far to the west of 
Hudson Bay. He was the first of white men to stand 
on the shores of that northern ocean and gaze out on 
its broad spread of waters, and when he came back 
and told his tale his find was hailed as a great geo- 
graphical discovery. The waters he had gazed upon 
were viewed as a part of that northwest passage so 
often and so vainly sought. Hearne returned in 1772, 
having given more than two years to his labors. 

A greater than Hearne, the greatest of all the dis- 
coverers in the broad northwest, was Alexander Mac- 
kenzie, an enterprising Scotchman, who began his 
career in Canada as a clerk of the Northwest Fur 
Company. For eight years, from 1781 to 1789, he 
lived as a trader at Fort Chippewyan, at the foot of 
Lake Athabasca, discovered by Hearne in 1771, and 
lying midway between Hudson Bay and the Rocky 
Mountain range. 

A born explorer and adventurer, Mackenzie grew 
restless in view of the lack of knowledge of the great 



2<5o HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

surrounding country. How far away lay the Pacific 
Ocean? How far north lay the Arctic sea? What lay 
between ? These were questions which wrought within 
his mind and of which he grew eager to find the an- 
swer. Mackenzie was a man who, when his mind was 
made up, was not to be deterred by any obstacles. He 
determined to reach the two oceans, and set out on his 
first great journey, that leading to the Arctic Ocean, 
in 1789. 

From near his point of departure the Slave River 
flowed northward, and the traveller followed it to the 
Great Slave Lake. Thence northward for more than 
a thousand miles ran the great stream known after its 
discoverer as the Mackenzie River. In our days the 
Athabasca River, Slave River, and Mackenzie River 
are looked upon as a single stream, passing in their 
course through the large lakes mentioned, and having 
a total length of two thousand miles. The Mackenzie, 
ice-closed through the greater part of the year, is in 
the summer season open to travel, and the daring 
traveller floated in his canoe down its thousand miles 
to its outlet in the Arctic Sea. He was the second of 
white men to gaze upon that watery domain, his point 
of view being far to the west of that on which Samuel 
Hearne had beheld its waves. 

In this enterprise Mackenzie had accomplished only 
half his proposed task. The Pacific still lay at some 
unknown distance to the west, and this he was deter- 
mined to see. As he went down the Mackenzie he 
asked the natives about the country that lay beyond 
the western mountain-wall, but all they could tell him 
was that there dwelt people so fierce that no stranger 
dared go among them. Little as this was, that little 
was not true, as Mackenzie was to discover. 

Returning to Fort Chippewyan, he set out from there 



IN AMERICA 261 

in 1792 for the foothills of the mountains, and there 
spent the winter, preparing for his mountain-climbing 
journey in the following year. When spring came 
again and the streams cast off their icy chains, he was 
ready for his difficult enterprise. With his guides and 
companions he set out, taking a single canoe to carry 
his food and supplies, a strong one, yet light enough 
for two men to carry it around rapids and falls. By 
its aid the small party made its way with toil and 
hardship up a mountain stream, swollen with the melt- 
ing snows, and in its higher reaches continually 
choked with rocks or broken with rapids. So fre- 
quently were these met with, and so great became the 
toil of carrying the canoe around them, that the 
men grew disheartened and wished to return. The 
mountains could not be crossed, they said. But Mac- 
kenzie said they could and should, and by his cheer- 
ful temper gave them heart for further efforts. 

Questioning the mountain Indians he met, he was 
told by them that he would find the route much shorter 
by land than by stream. Taking their advice, he left 
the canoe and traversed the mountains on foot. Food 
here was plentiful. The mountain streams were at 
this season crowded with salmon, and the natives were 
living in plenty. As for the fierce tribes of which he 
had been told, none of them were met. The Indians 
of the hill country, to whom a white man seemed a 
being from some remote planet, were kindly and hos- 
pitable, sharing food and shelter with him and his men, 
and helping him with aid and counsel. 

The journey, toilsome as it had been, was not so 
long as he had feared, and on the 23d of July, 1793,. 
Mackenzie and his men traversed the final miles of 
their journey and stood on the Pacific shores near the 
Straits of Fuca, which now form the dividing-line 



262 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

between Canada and the United States. He was the 
first man to cross the continent in its full width since 
Cabeza de Vaca, two hundred and fifty years before. 

Hearne and Mackenzie were not the only men 
whom the fur-trade inspired to discovery. There 
were others of minor importance who helped to make 
the vast region of British America known to the world. 
As for the two competing companies, the Hudson Bay 
and the Northwest, after many years of bitter strug- 
gle they gave up the fight, joined into one in 1821, 
and until 1859 this combination, under the old name 
of the Hudson Bay Company, had a monopoly of the 
fur-trade between the Atlantic and the Pacific, the 
Great Lakes, and the Arctic seas. It even made a 
vigorous effort to add Oregon to its territory and se- 
cure that splendid domain for Great Britain, but in 
this effort it met with defeat. 

In 1859 the fur-trade of Canada was thrown open 
to the competition of the world, and in 1869 the Com- 
pany ceded its territorial rights to the British gov- 
ernment, receiving $1,500,000 in money, and retaining 
all its forts with fifty thousand acres of land, and also 
one-twentieth of all the land within the " fertile belt" 
from the Red River to the Rocky Mountains. Thus 
the great Company founded by Charles II. nearly two 
hundred and fifty years ago is not yet extinct, but still 
carries on the business of collecting furs and also en- 
joys a large income from the sale of its fertile lands. 



IN AMERICA 263 



WASHINGTON AND GIST AND THE 
FORTS ON FRENCH CREEK 

Those who have read the last few tales will see how 
active the French were as explorers. Far and wide 
they went, traversing the woods, the streams, the 
lakes, seeking the mountains and the seas beyond, 
eager for furs and mines, but paying little heed to 
agriculture, that true foundation of a successful col- 
ony. 

All this time the English had been as busy, but in 
a different way. They had planted flourishing col- 
onies on the Atlantic shores in which agriculture was 
the principal industry, and in which the population 
rapidly increased. But they troubled themselves very 
little about discovery and exploration, and while the 
French were founding their trading-posts in the vast 
interior, the English were planting the soil and mov- 
ing inward from the coast only as new farms were 
needed for new settlers. Thus their progress in oc- 
cupying territory was slow, though their population 
grew much more rapidly than that of the restless 
French. 

All this was due, not so much to difference in en- 
terprise, as in the purpose of the two peoples. In the 
case of Spain, it was the eager search for gold that 
led adventurers through vast territories. In the case 
of France, it was the trade in furs, and still more the 
noble waterways which opened before them. In the 
case of England, on the contrary, the practice of ag- 
riculture tied the people to their farms, and they moved 



264 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

into the interior only as new areas of fertile ground 
were found and opened. 

The settlers were long in reaching the mountains 
and slow in crossing them. But at length, about the 
time that French enterprise reached its climax, that 
of England fairly began, and adventurous scouts 
pushed over the mountain-ridges and into the country 
beyond. Rivalry with the French for the possession 
of the Ohio Valley had much to do with this, and led 
in the end to the seven years' French and Indian War. 
It is our purpose here to give the story of some of 
these adventurers, and especially that of Christopher 
Gist, whose connection with Washington gives a his- 
toric interest to his career. 

As late as 1748 very few white men had made their 
way into the splendid and fertile Shenandoah Valley 
of Virginia. In that year George Washington, then 
a boy of sixteen, was dragging a surveyor's chain 
through this valley and measuring its miles for Lord 
Fairfax, who had a large claim in it. Farther south 
land-hunters had begun their work, and in 1749 a 
grant of eight hundred thousand acres, west of the 
Carolina Mountains, was made to the Loyal Land 
Company, in which Dr. Thomas Walker was a lead- 
ing spirit. Walker led a party over the mountains and 
was the first to discover Cumberland Gap and River, 
which he named after the duke of Cumberland. In 
March, 1750, he went again, leading his party up 
Cumberland River till they found a likely spot in the 
forest, where they cleared the ground and built a 
house, the first ever erected on the soil of Kentucky. 
A rich region it was, with its blue-grass meadows, 
verdant forests, fertile soil, and herds of deer and buf- 
falo; a region sure to attract settlers in the future, 
though Walker's house long stood alone. 



IN AMERICA 265 

In 1753 Dr. Walker was chosen to command an ex- 
pedition designed to cross the Alleghanies and follow 
the waterways of the west, with the' hope of finding 
a river leading to that great sea of the west which the 
French had so long been seeking. The war which 
broke out the next year put an end to this plan. 

Meanwhile English explorers and adventurers were 
astir farther north, and the packmen of Pennsylvania 
and Virginia were making their way into the Ohio 
Valley. There was then a wagon road from Philadel- 
phia through Lancaster to Harris's Ferry (Harris- 
burg), whence a bridle-path led to Will's creek on the 
Potomac. From this point an Indian trail passed over 
the mountains to the forks of the Ohio, — the site of 
Pittsburg, — and other trails ran farther west. As the 
years went on the traders grew numerous, it being 
said that about 1748 as many as three hundred Eng- 
lish traders, in a single season, crossed the mountains 
with their pack-horses, and floated down the western 
streams in their boats. In the same year the famous 
Ohio Company was formed, the first step towards the 
coming war. 

It is with the Ohio Company that the name of Chris- 
topher Gist comes into history. He was the chief of 
their scouts, and was sent by them in 1750 to the falls 
of the Ohio with orders to study the Indian tribes and 
look out for level and fertile land. He made an ex- 
tended journey through the Ohio country, visited its 
chief tribes, and built on the Miami, about one hun- 
dred and fifty miles up-stream from the Ohio, the 
trading-post of Picktown, then the extreme western 
station of the English. Here gathered about fifty 
packmen, while around it were some four hundred In- 
dian families of the Miami tribe. At the mouth of the 
Scioto Gist crossed the Ohio into Kentucky, and made 



266 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

his way south by the waters of the Licking and Ken- 
tucky rivers, travelling eastward from the latter and 
completing his journey of about twelve hundred miles 
in May, 1751. 

This was the longest exploration yet made by any 
English explorer west of the mountains. In it Gist 
was aided by two other noted pioneers, George Gro- 
ghan, an adventurous Irishman, who had for some 
years traded along Lake Erie, and Andrew Montour, 
a half-breed with an European face, but the dress and 
appearance of a savage. Both these men were very 
prominent figures in the settlement of the West and 
the dealings with the Indians. 

For the next two years Gist was kept busy in pros- 
pecting duty by the Ohio Company, and then, in the 
winter of 1753, came the historic incident in his life. 
On the 14th of November of that year there came 
to his cabin on Will's Creek, where it flows into the 
Potomac, three strangers. They were on horseback 
and dressed in pioneer garb, the one who was evi- 
dently their leader being a very young man, but with 
a face full of character and intelligence, one of the 
kind of men who seem born to make their mark in the 
world. 

In a few well-chosen words he told the frontiers- 
man that he wanted his help and what he wanted it 
for. He did not need to tell him that the late move- 
ments of the English had stirred up the French, who 
were now making active efforts to take possession of 
the Ohio Valley. They had begun by building forts, 
— one at Presque Isle, on Lake Erie; one on French 
Creek, near its head-waters ; one where French Creek 
joins the Alleghany. This was not all. A party of 
French and Indians had made their way to the forks 
of the Ohio, the site of Pittsburg, and the most im- 



IN AMERICA 267 

portant point to be secured. Here they found some 
English traders and took them prisoners, claiming 
that they were intruding on French territory. 

On the other hand, Governor Dinwiddie, of Vir- 
ginia, claimed that the French were intruding on 
English territory, and he had sent out this small 
party to visit their forts and demand that they should 
remove from land which did not belong to them. It 
was a long journey the young envoy had to make, 
more than eleven hundred miles in total length. It 
led through the unbroken wilderness, much of it over 
rugged mountains, with no paths but the narrow In- 
dian trails. The season was winter; there were icy 
rivers to be crossed ; the journey was one that would 
test all their strength and endurance. He wished to 
add to his party some men who knew the ways of the 
wilderness and how to deal with the Indians, and he 
knew that Christopher Gist was the man. 

When questioned by Gist, he said that his name was 
George Washington, and that he was a major in the 
Virginia militia. The two men with him were French 
and Indian interpreters. The hardy frontiersman, 
always ready for adventure, was quick to join, and 
with him four other Will's Creek settlers, two of them 
Indian traders. Two days later the little party set out 
on their difficult route. There were miles of rough 
mountain to be climbed, swollen streams to be crossed, 
wide forests to be traversed, the journey being one 
fitted only for the most hardy and vigorous men. 

Recent rains had filled the streams to their banks 
and they were difficult and dangerous to cross. Reach- 
ing the Alleghany near its mouth, they swam their 
horses over and hurried on to the Indian village of 
Logstown, where Washington had a conference with 
the Half King, a leading chief. He told the Indian 



268 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

that he had come to tell the French to go back to 
where they came from and leave the land of the 
Indians. He wanted a guide to lead him to the French 
fort, one hundred and twenty miles away. The Half 
King heard him with pleasure. Their " English 
brothers'' were come to help them. He would guide 
them himself, two other chiefs joining, while a noted 
Indian hunter agreed to go with them. 

As the travellers went on severe winter weather set 
in. Rain and snow fell, the forest grew difficult, the 
streams were hard to cross, and they were in need of 
rest when they reached the first French post at Ve- 
nango, at the mouth of French Creek. Here Captain 
Joncaire, a polite and courteous Frenchman, was in 
command, occupying the house of John Frazier, a 
Scotch trader, whom he had driven away. The weary 
travellers found here a warm fire and a bountiful meal, 
Joncaire drinking liberally himself and letting out the 
purposes of the French freely from his loosened 
tongue. Secretly he tried to lure away the Indians 
from Washington, but they were doubtful of French 
promises and were quite ready to go on when the 
journey was resumed. 

Fort Le Bceuf, on the upper waters of the creek, was 
reached on December 12. This was under the com- 
mand of Legardeur de St. Pierre, the man who had 
formerly succeeded Verendrye in his Rocky Mountain 
quest. He was an elderly man, as courteous and pol- 
ished as Joncaire, ready to treat his visitors with every 
hospitality within his reach, but far from ready to 
leave the fort. 

He read Governor Dinwiddie's letter and wrote a 
polite reply, in which he said he was a soldier, sent 
there to obey orders, not to discuss treaties. He had 
been sent there by the governor of Canada, and there 



IN AMERICA 269 

he meant to stay until ordered back. This letter was 
delivered to Washington under seal. 

While St. Pierre was writing his letter, Washington 
was studying the fort, and gained so complete an idea 
that he was able on his return to draw out a plan of 
it, which was sent to England. Like Joncaire, St. 
Pierre tried secretly to win away the Half King, a 
man of great prominence among the Indians. Prom- 
ises were made, presents given, but the chief kept to 
his pledge. He knew the French too well to trust to 
their fine words. 

The time fixed for the return journey came, but the 
snow was falling heavily, and Washington decided to 
go down the creek by canoe, sending the horses 
through the forest with the baggage. He found the 
water route far from pleasant, the channel being ob- 
structed by rocks and fallen trees, and broken by shoals 
and dangerous currents. At places the ice had lodged, 
and the canoe had to be carried to clear water below. 
They reached Venango in six days, the winding water 
route being one hundred and thirty miles long. The 
horses reached there before them, but they were so 
worn out by the forest journey that they were hardly 
able to carry the baggage and provisions. After three 
days' farther travel the poor beasts had become so 
feeble, the snow was so deep, and the cold so severe, 
that Washington decided to go on rapidly with Gist, 
leaving the rest of the party to make their way more 
slowly with the horses. 

Dressed in Indian walking-costume, carrying a 
knapsack containing his food and papers on his back, 
and gun in hand, the young envoy trod onward 
through the snowy forest ; the older scout, similarly 
equipped, by his side. Leaving the regular trail, they 
set out on a direct track through the woodland, head- 



270 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

ing for a point on the Alleghany some distance above 
the Ohio. The forest journey was not without peril- 
ous adventures. An Indian was met who agreed to 
guide them, relieving Washington of the weight of his 
knapsack. After they had proceeded ten or twelve 
miles the savage wanted to carry his gun too, and grew 
surly when Washington refused. 

A few miles farther and the Indian fell back. Look- 
ing for him they found that he had his gun aimed at 
them. It was discharged as they looked. 

" Are you shot ?" cried Washington. 

" No," said Gist. 

" Then after the rascal." 

The Indian had taken shelter behind a large tree, 
where he was hurriedly loading, but before he could 
finish Gist was upon him with his gun at his shoulder. 

" Do not shoot !" cried Washington. " We will gain 
nothing by killing the man, but we must keep our eyes 
on him." 

The fellow was now made to go in advance, under 
the guns of his followers, but as night approached they 
let him leave them, he saying that his cabin was close 
by. Gist followed him for some distance, that he might 
not steal back on them. A half mile farther they built a 
fire and took a short rest, but, fearing a return of the 
savage during the night, they were soon away again 
and travelled all night. 

Resting through much of the following day, they 
reached the Alleghany the next evening. To their dis- 
appointment it was only partly frozen, the ice running 
freely in the channel. When morning came the broken 
ice was still sweeping past. 

"There is nothing for it but to build a raft," said 
Washington, and they were quickly at work. 

Night fell before they had finished, but, not caring 



IN AMERICA 271 

to spend another night there, they launched the raft 
and pushed from shore. It was a perilous journey, 
their frail support being quickly jammed in the floating 
ice and carried down the channel. Washington tried 
to stop its motion with his setting pole, but in a 
moment the ice struck the pole heavily and swept him 
from his feet, he being hurled into the chill stream. 
By good fortune he fell near enough to the raft to 
catch and clamber upon it, but his clothes were drip- 
ping with ice-cold water. Finding it impossible to 
reach the shore, they were in the end obliged to leap 
upon an island as the raft swept past its borders. 

Here they were forced to spend the night without 
shelter or fire, while the cold grew hourly more bitter. 
Washington's young blood enabled him to escape 
serious consequences despite his wetting, but Gist had 
his hands and feet frozen. The next morning they 
found that the cold had frozen the water between the 
island and the eastern shore, and they were able to 
walk across. In a few hours more they reached a 
trading-post recently established near the spot where 
eighteen months later Braddock suffered his memorable 
defeat. Here they rested two or three days, until Gist 
recovered the use of his hands and feet. 

While here Washington paid a complimentary visit 
to Queen Aliquippa, an Indian princess, who resided 
at the confluence of the Monongahela and Youghiogany 
rivers. She had been displeased that he had not paid 
her this mark of respect on his outward journey, but 
an apology, seconded by a present, soothed the 
wounded dignity of the dusky princess and the politic 
traveller secured a gracious reception. 

As there were no tidings of the remainder of the 
party, Washington now hurried forward, crossed the 
Alleghanies, and left his companion at his home on 



2J2 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

Will's Creek. And there Christopher Gist drops out 
of history. Washington reached Williamsburg on 
January 16, having been eleven weeks on his long 
journey. 

What followed is matter of ordinary history. A 
party was sent to build a fort at the forks of the Ohio, 
but it was hardly begun before it was captured by the 
French. Later that year Washington advanced with 
a force of militia and met and defeated a French de- 
tachment in the woods. This was the first blow in a 
war that lasted seven years, and ended in the loss to 
France of all its possessions on the continent of North 
America. 



IN AMERICA 273 



DANIEL BOONE, THE EXPLORER AND 
SETTLER OF KENTUCKY 

While pioneers from the east were slowly making 
their way into the Ohio Valley, and building their 
humble homes in its fertile plains, the great region of 
the middle South lay unsettled and almost unknown. 
There, beyond the mountains, lay the " dark and 
bloody ground" of Indian warfare, a broad region in 
which even the savages feared to dwell, and which 
was abandoned to the marching feet of warlike bands. 
From time to time daring pioneers invaded its soil. 
Christopher Gist, as we have said, crossed the Ohio 
and made his way down the Kentucky River. Dr. 
Walker traversed the mountains, discovered Cumber- 
land River, and in 1750 built a house or cabin in this 
land of peril. Doubtless hardy hunters from time to 
time sought game in the western forests. But all 
these sink into insignificance before the exploits of the 
great explorer and settler of the Indian battle-ground, 
the famous Daniel Boone. 

Born in the woodlands of Pennsylvania, Boone be- 
came a hunter of wild game when a little boy, and 
grew so fond of the woods that he once ran away into 
the forest and was lost to sight for several days. He 
was at length found in a hut of sods and boughs which 
he had built, and around which hung the skins of the 
animals he had killed. The love of the wilderness was 
born in the boy. His father afterwards moved to 
North Carolina, and Daniel grew to manhood in the 
thickly wooded region near its western mountain-wall. 
Here he married a girl whom he had once come near 
18 



274 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

shooting in the woods as a deer, and settled down 
in a home of his own. 

Boone was too ardent a hunter and adventurer to 
take kindly to settled life. We have curious evidence 
that he crossed the mountains to the region of Ten- 
nessee as early as 1760, for his name was long after- 
wards found carved, in primitive spelling, on an old 
tree along the stage road in the valley of Boone's 
Creek. The legend ran : " D. Boon cilled a Bar on 
[this] tree in The year 1760." 

These were pioneer movements, which left little im- 
pression on the new-found land. Those who took part 
in them became known as " long hunters," from their 
habit of setting out on hunting excursions which kept 
them absent for months. They were, moreover, in 
Tennessee, south of the Indian war-paths. It re- 
mained for Boone to penetrate the " dark and bloody 
ground" and add the splendid vales and plains of Ken- 
tucky to the range of the English settlements. 

His long woodland life had made a man of the 
type of Cooper's " Leatherstocking " of Daniel Boone. 
Strong, robust, and sinewy, perfect in physical propor- 
tions, and a dead-shot with the rifle, he was alert and 
vigilant, daring as he was cautious, honest and kindly 
by nature, humane in spirit, yet with a native love 
of adventure which kept him constantly in the fore- 
front of civilization, and exposed him to endless perils 
from which he always escaped. Wary and shrewd as 
were many of the Indians, the keenest of them were 
no match for Daniel Boone, and he died at length in 
his bed, after a life in which danger constantly tracked 
his footsteps. 

Boone's desire to seek Kentucky seemingly came 
from the tales of a hunter named John Finley, who 
had made his way thither and found it a very paradise 



IN AMERICA 275 

for game. No long time passed before Boone and 
Finley, with several companions, were on their way 
across the rugged wilderness which lay between them 
and this land of promise. The mountain-range here 
was wide and rough, and they met with many hard- 
ships before, toiling unflinchingly onward, they looked 
down from a final crest upon the fair land of which 
they were in search. 

To their eyes it was a realm of peace and plenty. 
Herds of deer and droves of buffalo were in sight. 
The woods were of luxuriant growth. All appeared 
promising, for there was no sign of the dusky foe who 
lurked in the hidden aisles of the forest. Making their 
home in a rock-cleft, which was covered and concealed 
by a large fallen tree, the half-dozen of " long hunt- 
ers" spent there the summer and autumn, roaming the 
woods, finding game in plenty, but nowhere seeing a 
trace of the red-skinned natives of the soil. 

Their freedom from danger, perhaps, made them 
careless, for one day Boone and John Stewart, while 
out hunting, suddenly found themselves surrounded 
by a band of Indians. Escape was impossible, and they 
were forced to yield themselves prisoners. For seven 
days they were in the hands of their foes ; then one 
night when the Indians, weary with the day's labors, 
slept more soundly than usual, the alert woodsman 
saw his opportunity, cautiously awakened his com- 
panion, and the two crept away without disturbing 
their slumbering captors. They made their way in 
safety back to the camp, but Finley and the others were 
gone. Probably they had been scared by the absence 
of their companions and had made their way home. 

Early the next year Boone and Stewart were again 
attacked by Indians, and this time Stewart was killed. 
Boone would have been left alone in the primeval wil- 



276 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

derness but that just before he had been joined by his 
brother, Squire Boone, and a companion. This com- 
panion soon after strayed from the camp and never 
returned. An Indian arrow may have winged his 
fate, or he may have returned home. 

Powder and shot, upon which the lives of the wan- 
derers depended, were now running short, and it 
seemed the part of wisdom for them to return. But 
Daniel Boone was still in the hunting mood, and 
in the end his brother went back for supplies, leaving 
him alone in the wilderness. Only a man of extraor- 
dinary fortitude would have taken this risk, and only 
one of remarkable skill and discretion could have 
passed through it alive. For three months the bold 
hunter dwelt alone in the forest, shifting his camp 
constantly to avoid the prowling foe, eluding his 
enemies and tracking his game, unceasingly vigilant, 
and withal, as he tells us himself, enjoying greatly this 
solitary forest life. At the end of the three months 
Squire Boone reappeared and the two brothers con- 
tinued their work of exploring the land. When they 
went home again, in 1 671, they had an excellent 
knowledge of it. 

There is some reason to believe that Daniel Boone 
had other purposes than mere hunting in thus spend- 
ing two years in the wilderness. Southern Kentucky 
was claimed by the Cherokee Indians, though other 
tribes at times hunted in it, and forest battles were 
not infrequent between the tribes. Colonel Henderson, 
a noted character of the period, joined with several 
others in a plan to purchase this country from the 
Cherokees and establish there an independent State, 
to be called Transylvania. It is thought that Boone 
went there to observe the land as an agent of Colonel 
Henderson and his company. 



IN AMERICA 277 

His report of the beauty and fertility of the land 
and its abundance of game seems to have greatly 
stirred up the neighboring settlers. There were great 
political troubles at that time in North Carolina, due 
to the revolutionary spirit of its people and the tyranny 
of Governor Tryon, and many of them were ready to 
seek a more peaceful home beyond the mountains. For 
this reason colonists were not difficult to find, and 
many made their way through Cumberland Gap into 
Tennessee, a less dangerous section than Kentucky. 

It is supposed that during his long absence Boone 
visited the Cherokee chiefs and arranged terms with 
them for the sale of this unsafe portion of their tribal 
territory. Colonel Henderson afterwards met the 
chiefs to conclude the bargain, smoked with them the 
pipe of peace, and paid in merchandise for the land, 
they giving him a deed for it. This done, steps were 
taken to colonize the new territory, under the skilled 
leadership of Daniel Boone. 

A little party set out in 1773, consisting of six fam- 
ilies, — Boone's and five others, — taking their household 
goods with them on pack-horses, and driving their 
cattle and swine. Unfortunately for them, prowling 
Indians saw the party, and were incensed at this in- 
vasion of their hunting-grounds. They attacked the 
emigrant party in the rear, killed a number of them, 
including Boone's youngest son, scattered their ani- 
mals, and so discouraged the others that they turned 
back and sought a safer abiding place in the western 
part of Virginia. 

During the next two years Daniel Boone was en- 
gaged in surveying western lands for Virginia and in 
Indian warfare, and it was not until 1775 that the 
movement for colonization was resumed. A party of 
men under Boone's leadership now made their way 



278 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

through the wilderness to the banks of Kentucky 
River, where a fort was built as a protection against 
the Indians, — the fort of that day consisting of a few 
strong block-houses at the corners of a defensive 
square of pickets, within which were the cabins of the 
settlers. This done, Boone went back for his family, 
and a number of others returned with him to Boones- 
borough, as the fort was called. The party consisted 
of twenty-six men, four women, and a half-dozen of 
children, who made their way through the broad pass 
of Cumberland Gap. They did not all reach Boones- 
borough, part of them stopping on the way and build- 
ing a fort of their own. Boone's wife and daughter 
were the first white women who ever stood on the 
banks of Kentucky River. 

Such were the preliminary steps towards the settle- 
ment of Kentucky. Other settlers soon came, among 
them the famous hunter, Simon Kenton, and the work 
of taking possession of Kentucky was fairly begun. 
One such party was establishing itself in a fertile sec- 
tion when news was brought of the battle of Lexington 
and the beginning of the Revolution. They at once 
named their new settlement Lexington, and thus was 
founded what is now the fine city of this name, in the 
rich blue-grass region of the State of Kentucky. 

These early settlers of Kentucky were all foresters 
and hunters, men thirsting for adventure, and hard- 
ened by their wild outdoor life to great powers of en- 
durance. Always on the alert for the roving savages, 
they became as keen in forest lore as the Indians 
themselves, and far surpassed them in skill with the 
rifle, in the use of which many of them became won- 
derfully expert. Shall we describe the dress of the 
pioneer hunters ? It consisted of fringed deerskin leg- 
gings and hunting-shirt, the latter open in front and 



IN AMERICA 279 

held by a broad leather band at the waist. The tough 
material of this dress was proof against the thorns 
and briers through which they often had to force their 
way. On their feet they wore the Indian moccasin, 
soft in material and noiseless in tread, and on their 
heads caps of raccoon skin, home-made, and with the 
bushy tail of the 'coon dangling down over the left ear. 

Over the shoulder hung a well-filled powder-horn, 
at such an angle that it could be quickly seized for 
loading or priming. Their principal weapon was the 
heavy flint-lock rifle of that time, which an expert 
hunter could load with great despatch and use with 
such skill that he rarely missed his mark. While the 
rifle was their favorite safeguard, a long hunting-knife, 
heavy and keen-edged, hung in its sheath at their left 
side and a hatchet, or tomahawk, at their right, the 
latter being especially useful in cutting their way 
through the forest undergrowth. Such was the aspect 
of Boone and his associates when fully equipped for 
war or the chase. 

These pioneers found eternal vigilance the price 
of liberty, and even of life. The few early settlers in 
Kentucky were constantly in danger from bands of 
prowling Indians. One early instance of this incessant 
peril was the capture by Indians of Boone's daughter 
and two other girls, who had incautiously ventured a 
short distance from the fort. Night was near at hand 
before they were missed. The distracted fathers were 
obliged to wait till the next day's dawn. Then Boone 
and some companions put themselves on the trail of 
the savages, tracked them with unerring skill through 
the forest, and came upon them where they had halted 
to cook a meal. Startled by the bullets of the hunters, 
which stretched some of them on the ground, the red- 
skins fled and the captive girls were rescued. It was 



2 8o HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

probably long before they ventured beyond the walls 
of the fort again. 

This was but one among many adventures. The 
war of the Revolution was now going on, and the 
Indians were stirred up by the British to attack the 
whites. On one memorable occasion Boone and a 
party of others, while gathering salt at the salt-licks, 
were captured by a raiding party of Indians and taken 
by them to their homes, north of the Ohio. All of 
these were ransomed by the English at Detroit except 
Boone, who had grown so famous among the savages 
that no price could buy him from them. He was fortu- 
nately saved from torture by a chief, who adopted him 
as his son, and lived in apparent content with the tribe 
till he overheard them planning an attack on Boones- 
borough. He now escaped, travelled one hundred and 
sixty miles in five days, and reached the fort, to find 
that his wife and children had given him up for dead 
and gone back to North Carolina. 

He found the fort neglected and in no condition for 
defence, and made all haste to put it in order for an 
attack. It came, four hundred and fifty Indians, aided 
by some English allies, attacking the little . force of 
frontiersmen, about fifty in number, within the wood- 
land fort. Fierce was the attack, valiant the defence. 
The battle continued for nine days, when the Indians, 
having lost heavily, gave up the attempt to subdue the 
valiant fifty or capture the fort and withdrew in dis- 
gust. Then Boone went back to his old home and 
brought his family out again. 

It was now 1780. The war with England was 
near its end, the settlers in Kentucky were growing 
steadily more numerous, and the " dark and bloody 
ground" was fast ceasing to deserve this epithet. 
There were still troubles at times with the Indians, and 



IN AMERICA 281 

Boone had his share of new adventures, but after 
twelve years more of residence there Kentucky was 
getting too safe and thickly settled for the old hunter. 
The chief cause of his new movement, however, was 
that he was robbed of his land by speculators, who dis- 
covered that his papers were not drawn up in legal 
form, or in some way had flaws in them. 

Leaving his home in disgust, he dwelt for a time 
in Virginia, and then, hearing of the rich land and 
good hunting in Missouri, his pioneer blood became 
astir once more and he migrated to this new soil, then 
under Spanish rule. The Spanish authorities, aware 
of the reputation of the old hunter, made him military 
commander of his district and granted him ten thou- 
sand arpents (eight thousand five hundred acres) of 
land. But of this he neglected to record or secure his 
title, and when Missouri was acquired by the United 
States Boone once more found himself robbed of his 
land. This injustice, however, was set aside through 
the influence in Congress of the Kentucky Legislature, 
and the title of the old pioneer was made good. He 
was then nearly seventy years of age but still an ardent 
hunter. Years afterwards, when he was eighty-four, 
a hale and hearty veteran, a trapper saw him returning 
home from a hunt with sixty beaver-skins. 

Only once did he return to the State of which he 
was the explorer and pioneer settled, and in which 
as he tells us, he had lost so much. He says : " I may 
say that I have verified the words of the old Indian 
who signed Colonel Henderson's deed. Taking me by 
the hand at the delivery thereof, ' Brother/ he said, 
1 we have given you a fine land, but I believe you will 
have much difficulty in settling it.' My footsteps have 
often been marked by blood, and therefore I can truly 
subscribe to its original name. Two darling sons and 



282 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

a brother have I lost by Indian hands, which have also 
taken from me forty valuable horses and abundance 
of cattle. Many dark and sleepless nights have I been 
a companion for owls, separated from the cheerful 
society of men, scorched by the summer's sun, and 
pinched by the winter's cold, an instrument to settle 
the wilderness." 

Death came to the aged pioneer in 1820, in his 
eighty-sixth year. He was buried in a cherry-wood 
coffin, made and polished by his own hands in his 
Missouri cabin. Some thirty years and more later this 
coffin was drawn in state through the main street of 
Frankfort, Kentucky, the remains of the famous pio- 
neer being brought home to the State with which his 
name was so closely associated, to repose in honor in 
the public cemetery of its capital city, 



IN AMERICA 283 



JONATHAN CARVER AND HIS SEARCH 
FOR THE PACIFIC 

In the days of which we are writing there was a 
Connecticut Yankee, Jonathan Carver by name, who 
was inspired by large ideas and made a strong effort 
to carry them out. He did not accomplish much or 
add a great deal to our knowledge of geography, yet 
he won a name among the explorers of the country 
and we cannot pass him by. 

Carver was a soldier in that war by which the 
French lost their possessions in North America. After 
the war was over he became filled with vast schemes of 
discovery. The French had gone as far as the foot- 
hills of the Rocky Mountains, but beyond these moun- 
tains lay the great Pacific, and he developed a strong 
desire to be the first to reach its waters by the trans- 
continental route. He felt sure he could do so by 
traversing the Great Lakes and then following the 
rivers of the far West. He had access to the maps 
made by the French explorers and the accounts written 
by Hennepin and others, and these he carefully read 
and studied to prepare himself for his project of com- 
pleting their labors. 

What he wanted to do first was to learn the width 
of the continent and the best routes across it. Then, 
if he reached the Pacific, he intended to ask the Eng- 
lish government to establish a seaport on its coast and 
make it a basis for seeking the trade of the Indies by 
the transpacific route. He said that, if any available 
line of travel was found or could be made across the 
continent, it would be far easier to reach Asia directly 



284 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

from a Pacific port than by sailing over the long, 
roundabout way by the Strait of Magellan or the Cape 
of Good Hope. It would also, he said, " promote 
many useful discoveries" and open up new sources of 
trade. Thus Carver deserves the credit of being the 
first to set before the English people the luminous 
idea of going to Asia by first crossing the American 
continent, an idea that has been put into effect very 
profitably in our own days. 

Such was Carver's plan; now let us see what he 
did to realize it. It must be said that his ambition ran 
far ahead of his results. Making his way by the route 
of the lakes to Mackinac, the most northwestern Eng- 
lish post, he set out from that place in September, 
1766, going with some Indian traders, who were on 
their way to the Sioux country by the old route fol- 
lowed by Marquette, — that from Green Bay by way 
of the Fox and the Wisconsin Rivers. He proposed 
to take Hennepin's path up the Mississippi as far as 
the Falls of St. Anthony and make this his starting- 
point into the wild West. 

The Falls were reached on the 17th of November, 
and here he was surprised and interested in the actions 
of his Indian guide. That devout and superstitious 
savage began by chanting in his native tongue an 
earnest invocation to the Spirit of the Waters. As he 
sang he stripped off his ornaments and threw them as 
offerings into the stream. First went his pipe, then 
his tobacco, then the bracelets from his arms, then his 
earrings and necklace, his chant of praise to the God 
of the Falls only ceasing when he had made sacrifice 
of everything precious he possessed. 

Carver's journey up the Mississippi ended at the 
St. Francis River. From here he turned southward 
to the mouth of the St. Peter's (now the Minnesota) 



IN AMERICA 285 

River, up whose ample current he proposed to make 
his way into the depths of the great West. He was 
here in the vicinity of the site of the modern city of 
St. Paul, a locality which he looked upon as the 
pivotal region of the north Mississippi Valley. He 
believed that access could be had from this region by 
waterways in all directions. Southward the great 
river led to the Gulf of Mexico. Northward he fan- 
cied that a practicable waterway might be made to 
Hudson Bay, and eastward one to New York, follow- 
ing the Great Lakes. Westward he hoped to go up the 
St. Peter's and reach an easy portage or a central body 
of water leading to a stream by which the Pacific 
might be reached. 

His fancy was filled with speculative ideas of the 
flow of streams to the north, south, east, and west, 
and in one of his maps he places, close by the source 
of the Mississippi, a small lake, out of which flows the 
" Origan" River. This grows, in its passage west- 
ward, into the great river of the West, which enters 
the Pacific near the Straits of Arhan, an imaginary 
northwest passage invented by the map-makers of that 
period. 

After Carver's death, his heirs declared that he had 
purchased from the Sioux Indians all that pivotal tract 
of land, including the site of the city of St. Paul. 
They brought suit to recover this territory from the 
government, but the evidence which they presented in 
support of their claim was judged to be insufficient; 
and after resting long before Congress the claim was 
finally disposed of by an adverse decision in 1823. 

Returning from this digression, let us follow the 
traveller in his journey. Turning up the St. Peter's, 
or Minnesota, he followed it, as he tells us, for a dis- 
tance of two hundred miles. He was now in the heart 



286 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

of the Sioux country, the season of frost was upon 
him, and he spent the chill months of the winter in the 
villages of this warlike nation. 

He was still on the threshold of his journey, but 
adverse fortune here brought it to an end. He had 
purchased a supply of goods at Mackinac, to be sent 
after him and used as gifts to insure him a safe con- 
duct through the various tribes to be met on his route. 
For some reason these essentials of Indian travel 
failed to appear, and he was obliged to give up his 
western trip. He returned to the Prairie du Chien, 
then the great trading mart of the Western Indians. 
Thence reaching Lake Pepin, where he halted for a 
time, he ascended the Chippewa, made a portage to 
the St. Croix, and descended to Lake Superior. He 
finally reached home after an absence of two years and 
five months and a journey, as he says, of seven thou- 
sand miles. 

Years afterwards, in 1774, Carver laid plans to re- 
new his effort, proposing again to follow the St. 
Peter's, to cross from this to the Missouri, ascend the 
latter to its head-waters, cross the mountains, and 
make his way by the " Oregon, or River of the West, 
on the other side the summit of the dividing high- 
lands," to the ocean he sought. His plans were broad 
and ambitious, but the war which broke out between 
England and her American colonies prevented him 
from putting them into effect. 

Carver wrote an account of his travels, but this was 
not published until ten years after his return, the 
British government refusing him the desired permis- 
sion to publish it. An interesting feature of the map 
that accompanied this account is that in it the name of 
Origan is used as the title of the great river supposed 
to flow from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific. 



IN AMERICA 287 

No doubt he got this name from the Sioux during his 
seven months' life among them. Many years before 
they had told Father Charlevoix, a French missionary 
who visited them, that if he should go up the Missouri 
as far as it would take him, he would find the waters 
of another great river which ran westward to the sea. 
But Charlevoix gives no name to this river, and 
the origin of the word Oregon, now the name of the 
great State through which the river runs, we owe to 
Jonathan Carver. 

Carver posed as a prophet as well as a discoverer. 
He saw a great future for the Mississippi Valley and 
the lands to the far west, and expresses his opinion in 
the following eloquent words : 

" To what power or authority this new world will 
become dependent, after it has arisen from its present 
uncultivated state, time alone can discover. But as 
the seat of empire, from time immemorial, has been 
gradually progressive towards the west, there is no 
doubt but that at some future period mighty kingdoms 
will emerge from these wildernesses, and stately pal- 
aces and solemn temples, with gilded spires reaching 
the skies, supplant the Indian huts, whose very deco- 
rations are the barbarous trophies of their vanquished 
enemies." 

Such was Jonathan Carver's statement of that be- 
lief which had earlier been condensed by Berkeley into 
the aphorism, " Westward the Star of Empire takes its 
way." Had he lived until our day he would have seen 
his prophecy fulfilled with a completeness doubtless 
far transcending his wildest dream. 



288 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 



LEDYARD AND GRAY, AND THE DIS- 
COVERY OF THE COLUMBIA RIVER 

We have described several attempts to reach the 
Pacific by overland travel, including the unsuccessful 
one of Jonathan Carver and the Successful one of 
Alexander Mackenzie. After the time when Sir Fran- 
cis Drake coasted along the shores of California and 
Oregon and named the land New Albion two centu- 
ries passed before another naval exploring expedition 
sought those waters. Then, in 1776, while England 
was fighting with her American colonies, two ships 
were sent to this coast on a voyage of discovery, under 
the command of the famous Captain James Cook. The 
Spaniards of Mexico were then working their way up 
the coast, and England wished to get the start of them 
and gain possession of any large rivers or good har- 
bors in that quarter, and Captain Cook was sent for 
this purpose. 

Cook made important discoveries in the Pacific, in- 
cluding the Sandwich Islands, to which he gave this 
name. He reached the American coast in 1778 and 
sailed northward, keeping the shore in sight so far 
as the winds and waves permitted, but failing to see 
either the Columbia River or the Straits of Fuca. In 
fact, he reached the coast north of the Columbia. The 
only harbor he found was that of Nootka Sound, on 
Vancouver Island, where his ships were overhauled 
and put in trim for a sail into the Arctic seas. He 
found the Nootka people friendly, but they were not 
afraid of the noise of his cannon and many of them 
had iron tools and ornaments of brass and silver. All 



IN AMERICA 289 

this showed that white men and their ships were no 
strangers to them, and that trading or other vessels 
had passed that way. Cook kept on till he sighted 
Mount St. Elias, when he knew that he was in Rus- 
sian territory. He headed north still, till he passed 
through Bering Strait and into the Arctic Ocean. 
Thence he made his way back to the Pacific and to the 
Sandwich Islands, where he was killed by the treach- 
erous natives. 

There were two men with Captain Cook of whom 
we must speak. One of these was a midshipman 
named George Vancouver, who came back to those 
waters in 1792 as captain of the ship " Discovery/' 
He, too, failed to find the Columbia River, but gained 
the honor of having the large Vancouver Island named 
after him. 

The other of these men, John Ledyard, a native of 
Connecticut, and a corporal of marines under Captain 
Cook, is of more interest to us. He was a man full 
of activity and love of exploration, to which his whole 
life was given. After his return to England in 1778, 
he was sent on a warship to America, but rather than 
fight against his native land he deserted. The war 
over and America free, his mind became filled with 
broad dreams of empire. When on Cook's vessel he 
had observed and noted everything of interest he saw, 
and he was sure that the land between the Rocky 
Mountains and the Pacific was not the narrow strip 
then shown on the maps, but a broad area which might 
one day become part of the United States. 

He also saw in his mind's eye a mighty commerce 
from that region. Cook's sailors had obtained from 
the Nootka natives many valuable furs in exchange 
for cheap trinkets, and had sold in China one-third of 
their cargo of water-rotted sea-otter skins for ten 
19 



2 go HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

thousand dollars. Why should not an American ship 
be sent out to gather and trade in these skins? Full 
of enthusiasm, he sought the merchants of New York 
and Philadelphia, but his tales seemed visionary to 
these hardheaded men, none of whom saw anything 
but wild fancy in his schemes. Then he went to 
France, where he did his utmost to enlist some one in 
his plans, but equally in vain. His idea filled him day 
and night. " I die with anxiety," he said, " to be on 
the back of the American States, after having pene- 
trated to the Pacific Ocean/' 

Among those sought by Ledyard was Thomas Jef- 
ferson, then (1785) the United States Minister to 
France. The enthusiast haunted his office, and one 
day Jefferson said to him : " Why not go overland 
through Russia and Siberia, cross to Nootka Sound 
in one of the Russian trading ships, and from there 
make your way over the mountains and by way of the 
Missouri into the United States." 

It was an idea that Jefferson himself was to put 
into effect, in later years, in the reverse direction. It 
stirred up Ledyard, who was a man ready to undertake 
any adventure, however difficult or dangerous. He 
seized eagerly upon the project, only providing that 
the Russian government should give its consent. This 
was obtained, and the explorer set out on his im- 
mense journey to far-off Kamtchatka. But he did not 
succeed in getting there. After travelling with great 
hardships well on to four thousand miles eastward 
from St. Petersburg, he reached Irkutsk, in Siberia, 
in January, 1787. Here were the head-quarters of 
the Russian-American Company, that powerful fur- 
hunting association which had a monopoly of the north- 
western American trade. Distrustful of Ledyard's pur- 
pose, and fearing to let this daring American enter their 



IN AMERICA 291 

secluded territory, they had him arrested as a spy and 
obtained an order from the empress expelling him 
from the country under penalty of death if he should 
return. That ended Ledyard's connection with Amer- 
ica. He went to London and was sent to Africa by 
the African Association, but died of fever in Cairo at 
the beginning of his journey of exploration. 

Thus fell to nought the plans of one of the most 
adventurous of men. Had he been granted a ship he 
might have secured for the United States the whole 
Pacific coast from Mexico to Alaska. A few years 
later Mackenzie reached the Pacific at the Straits of 
Fuca and gained for Great Britain the northern sec- 
tion of this territory. 

Americans, however, had been there before. In 
1787, while Ledyard was being banished from Siberia, 
some Boston merchants awoke to the value of his 
plans, and formed a partnership to engage in trade 
between the western American coast and China. This 
led to important results, as we shall seek to show. 

The company of merchants fitted out two ships, the 
" Columbia," of two hundred tons, commanded by Cap- 
tain Robert Gray, and a small, sloop-rigged vessel, the 
" Washington," of ninety tons, under John Kendrick, 
the latter a sort of tender to the former. They were 
laden with goods likely to be valued by the Indians, 
which they were to trade for furs, sell the furs in 
China, and load up with tea to be sold at home. The 
project, from a commercial point of view, seemed a 
promising one. 

At the mast-heads of the " Columbia" and " Wash- 
ington" floated a flag never yet seen in the distant 
waters to which they were bound, the " Stars and 
Stripes" of the new republic; and for fear it might 
be questioned, the captains carried passports from the 



292 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

United States authorities. It seems an odd thing to- 
day that the American flag should ever have needed 
such a protection. 

The company had more in mind than a simple 
trading voyage. They wished to establish a perma- 
nent trade, in competition with the Hudson Bay Com- 
pany, and instructed Gray and Kendrick to buy land 
from the Indians, build storehouses or forts, or take 
other means to secure possession. There was a long 
strip of coast of which next to nothing was known, 
and the far-sighted merchants wished to gain this for 
themselves or their country. 

The two vessels, sailing by way of the Strait of 
Magellan and up the west American coast, in the track 
of Drake, reached Nootka Sound in the latter part of 
1788. Here they began an active commerce with the 
Indians, exchanging their wares for the furs possessed 
by the natives till the " Columbia " was well laden 
with those valuable goods. On her departure, the 
" Washington 1 ' was left, its captain occupying himself 
in cruising in the adjoining waters and up the Straits 
of Fuca, and buying large tracts of land from native 
chiefs. Copper coins and medals struck for this pur- 
pose formed part of the price paid the natives for their 
territory. 

Meanwhile the " Columbia" reached the port of 
Canton, disposed of her furs to the Chinese, bought 
teas with the cash received, and set sail for home and 
a market. Rounding the Cape of Good Hope and 
sailing north through the Atlantic, she reached her 
starting-point in Boston harbor in August, 1790. 
While by no means the first to circumnavigate the 
globe, she had been the first to carry the American 
flag around the earth and to show the star-spangled 
banner in the antipodes. 



IN AMERICA 293 

Seventeen years before this time a shipload of tea 
had sailed into Boston harbor to meet with anything 
but a welcome, for its cargo had been tossed overboard 
by the indignant citizens, and Boston harbor converted 
into a gigantic kettle of tea. The " Columbia" met 
with a very different reception. As she sailed up the 
harbor, with the starry flag at her peak as it had floated 
there when she set sail nearly three years before, she 
was saluted by welcoming cannon; while the people, 
learning what vessel had come, rushed to the wharves 
with shouts of greeting. And thus, to the cheers of 
the Bostonians and the boom of cannon, the " Colum- 
bia" rounded in to her wharf, with the flag that had 
crossed all seas and been shone upon by all suns still 
floating proudly from her mast-head. In addition to 
her ship's company she brought with her the crown 
prince of the Sandwich or Hawaiian Islands, Captain 
Gray having persuaded the king to send his son on a 
visit to the United States. 

Successful as this voyage had been, the second voy- 
age of the " Columbia," which was soon after under- 
taken, was much more successful from the point of 
view of discovery, for it led to the finding of the great 
river of the West, never hitherto seen, and its existence 
only conjectured. In the summer succeeding his re- 
turn, Captain Gray was off again, bound for the Pacific 
coast of America. As he sailed up the Oregon shore 
line he came in sight of a broad estuary, which he felt 
sure was the mouth of a large river ; but the surf broke 
so violently over its seeming outlet that he did not 
venture to cross the surging billows. 

Farther up the coast he met with Captain Van- 
couver, of the " Discovery," and told him of his find. 
Vancouver threw doubt on the story. He had been 
along that coast from Cape Mendocino to Nootka 



294 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

Sound, and had searched carefully for the river sup- 
posed to be there, but had seen no trace of it. This 
doubt seems to have disturbed Captain Gray. After 
parting with Vancouver he headed south again, deter- 
mined to settle the disputed question. He had marked 
the latitude of the place on his log, and on reaching 
the spot he saw again the wildly breaking surf and 
the broad inlet, several miles across, that lay within. 

Surf or not, he was bound to enter it now. With all 
sails set the gallant " Columbia" dashed into the threat- 
ening billows, crossed them without difficulty or dan- 
ger, and soon was afloat in a broad, smooth basin, on 
whose waters no ship had ever floated before. Up the 
wide estuary, from three to seven miles broad, Captain 
Gray carried his ship, soon finding the stream to grow 
narrow, and sailing up it for fourteen miles before he 
stopped and let fall his anchor. As he went upward 
the natives pushed out from the banks in their canoes, 
keeping pace with the great ship as it glided along the 
stream and looking upon it with wonder and awe. 

Gray gazed proudly about him. He was on the 
waters of a splendid and unknown river, and naturally 
felt highly elated with his discovery, whose importance 
he was well fitted to estimate. History gives us a very 
brief story of this stream, which various mariners had 
passed without seeing. The first to conceive its exist- 
ence was a Spaniard named Heceta, who passed its 
northern headland in 1775, naming it Cape St. Roque. 
All he saw of the river is indicated in the remark, 
" These eddies of the water caused me to believe the 
place is the mouth of some great river." 

Taking his word for it, some Spanish map-makers 
placed a river at this point, naming it the St. Roque. 
In 1788 the British Captain Meares, who had seen 
these maps, sailed that way and looked out for the 



IN AMERICA 295 

river. He rounded the cape and ran into the inlet, but 
he saw nothing there but a wide tumble of breakers 
and was convinced that no river was near. He signi- 
fied his feeling by renaming the headland Cape Disap- 
pointment. The opposite point Gray named Cape 
Adams. 

Captain Gray was thus the first to make an actual 
discovery of the river, as he was also the first to sail 
up its waters. He gave it the name of his ship, the 
Columbia, and the Columbia River it remains. As a 
token of taking possession of it in the name of the 
United States, he buried some pine-tree shillings at 
the foot of a tree. Then up went the anchor and 
away went the " Columbia," followed by the wonder- 
ing gaze of the Indians. She had been afloat on the 
waters of the largest river, after the Yukon, on the 
Pacific coast of America. 



296 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 



LEWIS AND CLARK, AND THEIR JOUR- 
NEY TO THE PACIFIC 

When the priest Marquette descended the Missis- 
sippi and passed the mouth of the swift-flowing Mis- 
souri, with its flood of turbid water, the desire arose 
in his mind to ascend this great stream to its head- 
waters. Others later than he felt the same impulse, 
hoping by this route to reach the distant waters of the 
Pacific and win fame as discoverers. We have de- 
scribed the various efforts to realize this dream of the 
adventurer, and propose now to tell how the dream 
was at length made a living fact. 

In 1803 President Jefferson was negotiating for the 
purchase of the great Louisiana Territory from France, 
and was naturally anxious to learn its extent and 
character. As yet very little was known about it. 
Twenty years before he had advised John Ledyard to 
go to the Pacific and cross the continent from the west. 
He now, as President of the United States, decided to 
send out a party to cross the continent from the east, 
completing the work which Verendrye had long before 
undertaken, but had only partly completed. For this 
purpose he selected his private secretary, Meriwether 
Lewis, a young Virginian of much ability, to take 
charge of the scientific work of the expedition. Wil- 
liam Clark, a brother of the famous George Rogers 
Clark, and a soldier who had seen much of Indian 
warfare, was chosen for its military commander. 

Much of the country which these pioneers were to 
explore was unknown. The French had made their 
way as far as the Yellowstone River and the Black 



IN AMERICA 297 

Hills, but their story was vague and incomplete, and 
nearly all that men knew of it was that it was the 
home of wandering tribes of Indians, who roamed 
about in savage freedom like the Arabs of the desert, 
and of countless buffaloes, which supplied the natives 
with abundant food. What obstacles would be met, 
what hardships endured, what marvels of nature dis- 
covered, no one could tell; but Captains Lewis and 
Clark were men of courage and enterprise and fron- 
tiersmen of experience, and no better selection of lead- 
ers could have been made. 

The party that set out, full of hope and enthusiasm, 
included thirty men in all, there being besides the 
leaders nine young Kentucky backwoodsmen, fourteen 
soldiers, two French boatmen, a hunter, an interpreter 
familiar with Indian speech, and a negro servant. The 
government provided a boat fifty-five feet long, draw- 
ing three feet, and carrying a large square sail and 
twenty-two oars. It was decked at bow and stern and 
open amidships, like the caravels of Columbus. In 
this craft the party floated down the Ohio and ascended 
the Mississippi, reaching St. Louis in the autumn 
months of 1803. The country west of the Mississippi, 
though purchased by the United States, was still under 
Spanish officers, and the party encamped on the oppo- 
site side of the river. There they spent the winter, en- 
gaged in drilling the men for possible Indian fighting, 
and in preparing their stores for easy carriage. These 
included, besides their clothing and implements, a 
variety of goods taken as presents for the Indians, 
such as trinkets, tools, weapons, and gaudy articles 
of clothing, well fitted to charm their savage souls. 

Not until May of the next year was the river in 
condition for a resumption of the journey. The party 
had now to ascend the swift Missouri, a much more 



298 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

toilsome task than the easy descent of the Ohio. Boats 
had been obtained to carry their stores, and the expedi- 
tion now consisted of five boats in all, while two horses 
kept pace with them along the bank, carrying the game 
daily procured by the hunters. Their usual day's 
journey was from ten to twenty miles, while every 
night they fastened their boats to the shore and 
camped on the banks of the river. 

The long river voyage was marked by many diffi- 
culties and mishaps. Here a boat would ground on 
a hidden sand-bar, there floating trees would carry 
danger in their course. The savages met with, how- 
ever, gave no trouble, a few presents and some soft 
words winning their hearts. Here and there a side 
stream poured its waters into the main current, the 
Osage, the Kansas, and the Platte being thus passed. 
In July the country of the Otoe Indians was reached. 
A council was held with the chiefs of this tribe, who 
agreed to accept the friendship and protection of their 
" great white father," the President. The place where 
tb? council was held has since been known as Council 
Bluffs, a city now standing where the chiefs and the 
pioneers met in amity. 

The villages of the Mandans, the so-called " White 
Indians," known since the days of Verendrye, were 
reached at the end of October. At this point, sixteen 
hundred miles above the Mississippi River, it was pro- 
posed to spend the winter. The real difficulties and 
dangers of the trip lay before them, and a season of 
rest from their labors was needed before venturing 
into the upper waters. 

As with the Otoes, a council was held with the chiefs 
of the Mandans, who were given the same assurance 
of the friendship of their " great white father" and 
well supplied with presents, including flags and 



IN AMERICA 299 

feathers, uniforms and medals, some of these bearing 
the President's picture. Presents were also given to 
the people, the one that pleased them most being a 
mill for grinding their corn, the usefulness of which 
appealed to them. The winter was spent in exploring 
the surrounding country, making maps of the region 
traversed, and collecting specimens of plants and 
minerals. These were packed and sent to President 
Jefferson. 

In April, 1805, the party was ready to make a fresh 
start and face the dangers that confronted them. Only 
the hardiest and strongest men were now retained, the 
weaker ones being sent home. The task before them 
needed vigor and endurance. It was known that the 
stream would grow narrow and shallow as they ad- 
vanced, and its banks might be haunted by predatory 
tribes against whom it would be necessary to keep 
strictly on guard. The Mandans told them that far 
away they would come to a deep, wild gorge, down 
which the whole river plunged with a thunder-like 
roar, while in a dead tree above the cataract an eagle 
dwelt fearlessly amid its rising mists. 

The journey proved as difficult as they had ex- 
pected. Here were shallow reaches over which the 
boats had to be pushed with poles ; here were rapids 
up which they had to be dragged with tow-lines. On 
several occasions bears were met, dangerous fellows, 
from which Captain Lewis made two narrow escapes. 
The hunters kept the party well supplied with venison 
and buffalo meat. 

For two months they pushed on westward, passing 
the mouths of the Little Missouri and the Yellowstone, 
and on the 26th of May gained their first distant view 
of the Rocky Mountains. By the end of the month 
they were passing the Black Hills and toiling onward 



300 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

along a very swift stream, its bed at points rocky and 
dangerous, at others broken by shallows, through which 
the boats had to be dragged with severe toil. 

While the men were thus engaged, the commanders 
were actively prospecting, taking care always to carry 
their trusty rifles. Few savages had been met since 
the Mandan settlement was left, but hostile Indians 
might at any time be encountered, and in this case a 
rifle was likely to prove a useful companion. From 
the elevations the prospectors gazed with wonder on 
enormous herds of buffaloes, grazing over the wide 
plain, with deer and antelopes at times coursing in 
swift flight. Now and then they saw traces of an Indian 
camp, but the native population seemed very small. 
Yet discipline was not relaxed, sentinels being posted 
around the nightly camps, and strict precautions taken 
against possible ambush and attack. 

Thus toiling upward and onward, at length the 
party reached the junction of two rivers so nearly 
alike in size that it was difficult to decide which was 
the parent stream. The men pronounced in favor of 
the northern fork, with its deep and turbid waters. 
The captains, for engineering reasons, thought that 
the main stream was that to the south. To avoid the 
risk of going wrong the party divided, Captain Lewis 
and a few men ascending the southern, Captain Clark 
with the others trying the northern branch. The great 
falls could not be far distant, and the discovery of 
these would settle the question. 

For three days Captain Lewis advanced, then seem- 
ingly miles away a faint roar met his ears. As he 
went on a dim cloud of mist was seen, while the sound 
grew louder. A few hours of further travel brought 
him to the brink of the great cataract of which he had 
been told. 



IN AMERICA 301 

The first white man ever to stand where he now 
stood, he gazed with the pride of a discoverer and the 
delight of a naturalist on the scene. Its grandeur 
and beauty were such that he forgot all things else 
in admiration of its sublimity, and first awoke to a 
true sense of the situation when he saw a huge brown 
bear lumbering along towards him. The bear looked 
warlike, Lewis's rifle was unloaded, the situation was 
critical, and without hesitation he leaped into the 
stream. Bruin followed to the water's edge, as if 
with intent to plunge in after him, but a few minutes 
later he turned and waddled away, much to the relief 
of the startled explorer. 

One of the men was now sent after Captain Clark 
and his party with the story of the find. They arrived 
in a couple of days and the journey up the stream 
was resumed. The cataract upon which Captain 
Lewis had gazed was but the termination of a long 
series of cascades and rapids fifteen miles long, past 
which it was necessary to drag the boats and baggage, 
rude vehicles being made for the purpose. 

It was a wearisome task in that rocky country, and 
in the end proved fruitless, for the boats were unfit 
for the shallow and broken stream above the rapids, 
and canoes hewn from the river-side trees had to be 
made, tough and capable of bearing the wear of the 
rocks. In these they made their way onward, reaching 
on the 19th of July that marvel of nature known as 
the " Gate of the Rocky Mountains," a frightful 
canon five miles long, where the waters rush through 
a deep gorge with mountain-walls a thousand feet 
high. 

Pushing steadily onward, they next came to a three- 
fold division of the stream, three branches of equal 
size pointing off like so many fingers through the 



302 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

untrodden wilderness. These streams they named 
Jefferson, Madison, and Gallatin, after the President 
and two members of his Cabinet. They took the west- 
erly fork, that named Jefferson, to be the true Missouri, 
and followed it up to the head of canoe navigation in 
the mountains, three thousand miles by the winding 
stream from where they had embarked on its waters 
a year and a half before. 

Thus the head-waters of the Missouri were reached 
and the first part of their work ended, the task set by 
so many adventurers being at length accomplished. 
But these daring men felt that their enterprise was but 
half completed. They were now in the heart of the 
mighty mountain-chain of the West, peaks looming 
up before them for many miles. Beyond these must 
be the springs of the western river they sought, the 
Columbia, seen at its Pacific outlet by Captain Gray, 
but quite unknown in its upper course. To reach and 
descend it was their earnest desire. 

Scouts were sent out in search of Indians who 
could guide them over the divide, but none were to be 
found. A trail was followed upward, but it was soon 
lost in narrow and stony defiles up which no horses 
could go. To ascend them on foot seemed next to 
impossible. But they must be crossed, and Captain 
Lewis set out with two men to do so, leaving the 
others encamped in the hills, and saying that he would 
not come back until he had found guides. Up the 
rugged hills he clambered, and on the 12th of August 
reached the mountain-brook in which the Missouri 
begins its long flow. 

Thence upward still he went till he stood on the 
summit of the dividing ridge, the water-shed of the 
mighty mountain-range, and saw before him a long 
succession of lofty summits. Descending the oppo- 



IN AMERICA 303 

site slope, he had not gone a mile before he came upon 
a small stream of clear water flowing westward. Un- 
known to him, it was one of the sources of the river 
he sought, and within a few hours he had drunk of 
the waters of the two great rivers of the east and the 
west. 

Keeping onward down the stream, he came to a 
village of the Shoshone, or Snake, Indians. They 
gazed on him with astonishment. Never had they 
seen the face of a white man before, and when he 
made them understand that he had crossed the moun- 
tains without guides they would not believe him. But 
some of them agreed to go back with him, and were 
still more surprised when they saw his companions 
and learned that his story was true. It was little more 
than a hundred years ago, and yet the advent of a 
party of white men in this now well-settled region was 
as great a marvel to their dusky souls as though they 
had come down from the moon. 

The stream which Captain Lewis had found, they 
said, grew into a large river and ran on till it came 
to the great waters far away. But no food could be 
found along its course, canoes could not swim on its 
rough current, and there were no paths along its 
rocky banks. If they went on they would have to 
take the difficult Indian trails and trust for food and 
rest to the villages on the way. Only by the giving 
of some and the promise of many more presents could 
the Snakes be induced to supply them with guides and 
horses for their toilsome and dangerous journey. 

There is an interesting episode here to be told. 
While at the Mandan settlement, the travellers had 
rescued from the Minaterees, a neighboring tribe, a 
Shoshone woman named Sacajawea, held among them 
as a prisoner, and had now brought her to her own 



304 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

people. She proved kind and intelligent and was use- 
ful to them in various ways. Among those who had 
come to the camp were her husband and brother, 
and she was not only indispensable as an interpreter, 
but by her influence greatly aided in inducing her 
people to aid her new white friends. 

It was a hard march that now lay before the pros- 
pectors. There were steep hills to climb, narrow 
paths to follow round precipitous heights, stony 
canons to traverse; but the wiry little Indian horses 
were well trained in the work, and bore them onward 
without accident. It took them nearly a month to 
cross the mountains, often at such an elevation that 
snow fell and water froze, even in that summer season. 
There were days in which five miles seemed a long 
journey, and others in which still less progress was 
made. Hitherto they had obtained food in abundance, 
but in these upland regions the hunters found game 
very scarce. Many days they had only berries and 
dried fish to eat, and half rations even of these. 
When a horse gave out it was killed and eaten. They 
were obliged even to buy dogs of the Indians for food. 
Hunger, toil, and weariness robbed the men of their 
spirit, and it was a ragged, foot-sore, and disheartened 
band that at length left the hills and stood on com- 
paratively level soil again. 

Many mountain-streams were passed in their long 
journey before they reached one which the red-men 
said was safe to travel on. They called it the Koos- 
kooskia. It now bears the more civilized name of 
Clearwater River. They had traversed some four 
hundred miles of hill country since they left their 
boats at the head-waters of the Missouri. 

The adventurers were now in the country of the 
Nez Perce (pierced nose) Indians, and left here 



IN AMERICA 305 

their horses to be kept till their return, building 
canoes for the river journey. From being bitterly 
wearisome their work now became easy. Three days 
brought them to a larger stream, which they named 
the Lewis River, and seven days more to a still larger 
one, which they named the Clark, the leaders of the 
expedition being thus honored. 

They were now on the Columbia itself, and soon 
reached the Dalles, where the river breaks in wild rap- 
ids and falls in its course through the Cascade moun- 
tain-chain. The Indians here said they would have to 
land and follow the portage round the falls. But the 
daring leaders had no fancy for carrying their heavy 
baggage over the rock trail and decided to take the risk 
of running the canoes down the boiling waters. They 
did it in safety, though not without moments of thrill- 
ing danger, passed the still more perilous narrows be- 
low, and were soon afloat in smooth waters again. 

They had passed through a desolate and largely 
deserted region. They were now in a land of plenty 
and of numerous inhabitants. The natives here lived 
on the salmon which at seasons thronged the stream. 
As they went on the bows and arrows of the Indians 
were replaced by fire-arms, showing that they were 
in communication with the whites of the coast. Many 
of them were warlike, traversing the river in great 
canoes with carved images at stem and stern. Had 
they proved hostile it would have been serious for 
the small party of travellers, but those men, living and 
dressing like the Indians themselves and knowing well 
how to deal with them, had nothing to fear, and passed 
on unmolested. 

Tidal waters were at length observed ; the river 
began to grow salty ; at length, on the 7th of Novem- 
ber, the roar of distant breakers was heard ; they were 
20 



306 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

at the end of their journey, more than four thousand 
miles long. Cabins for their winter-quarters were 
built on a small bay of the Pacific coast, the flag they 
had brought waved over the settlement, and the win- 
ter was passed in exploring the surrounding country. 

The return journey began in March, 1806. Little 
need be said about it, since the explorers traversed 
mainly the route by which they had come. Abandon- 
ing their boats at the foot of the Cascade falls, horses 
were bought to carry them to the Nez Perce's country, 
where they had left those that carried them over the 
mountains. 

Leaving the old track at this point, they journeyed 
due east to the head of Clark's River and here 
divided. Lewis led a part of the band across the 
mountains to the head-waters of the Maria River, 
while the remainder, under Clark, took a more south- 
erly course and came out at the springs of the Yellow- 
stone, in the vicinity of the wonder region of Yel- 
lowstone National Park. Down these two streams the 
parties floated to their place of rendezvous on the 
Missouri. Their old winter-quarters near the mouth 
of the Missouri were reached on May 22, the journey 
home having taken little more than two months. 

Thus was completed a memorable and important 
journey, and the often-sought transcontinental route 
was at last discovered, fourteen years after Mackenzie 
had discovered a similar route in British territory. 
Congress rewarded the explorers by large grants of 
land in Missouri, making Lewis governor of Missouri 
Territory and Clark general of its militia. Lewis had 
always been inclined to melancholy, which grew on him 
in the quiet of his new duties, his mind finally becom- 
ing unbalanced. As a consequence, while on his way 
to Washington in 1809, he committed suicide. 



IN AMERICA 307 

In 1905 the centennial anniversary of this famous 
journey down the Columbia was celebrated by a mag- 
nificent International Fair at Portland, the capital of 
Oregon, in which the extraordinary progress of that 
region during the century since the explorers found 
it inhabited only by wild Indians was splendidly 
shown. And in the centre of the ornate Columbia 
Court was erected a heroic bronze statue of Saca- 
jawea, the noble Indian woman whose faithful service 
as~a guide did so much to promote the success of the 
Lewis and Clark expedition. 



3 o8 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 



ZEBULON M. PIKE, THE DISCOVERER 
OF PIKE'S PEAK 

In the year 1805 Zebulon M. Pike, then a lieuten- 
ant in the United States service, was sent on a mission 
to the upper Mississippi. A double mission it was, 
geographical and political. He was to get an idea of 
the lay of the country and to take possession of it in 
the name of the United States. At this time, while 
Lewis and Clark were making their way across the 
continent to the Pacific, a region so near at hand as 
that surrounding the head-waters of the Mississippi 
was almost unknown, and many years more passed 
before the sources of that great river were traced. 

In fact, there was even peril that the region might 
be lost to the United States, since the trappers of the 
British Northwest Fur Company were making their 
way into it. Pike warned them off the land and built 
Fort Snelling as a protection, buying from the Indians 
the necessary plot of ground. 

Lieutenant Pike had shown such ability as an ex- 
plorer during this expedition that the government at 
once made him a captain and sent him out on a much 
longer and more difficult mission. His route now lay 
westward to the far-off sources of the Arkansas and 
Red rivers, which streams he was to explore. A 
second duty was to try and make peace between two 
of the Indian tribes, the Osage and Kansas, which 
were then at war. It was a region unknown, except 
in so far as it had been traversed by Spanish scouts, 
and Captain Pike had before him a work of no little 
difficulty and danger. 



IN AMERICA 309 

St. Louis, recently obtained from Spain and then the 
western outpost of the United States, was the starting- 
point of the expedition. It was at that time a town 
of very modest dimensions; the fur-trade its chief 
reason for existence. Setting out in July, 1806, the 
party made its way by the aid of boats and oars up 
the Missouri, making an average of fifteen miles a 
day; while the deer, bears, and wild turkeys which 
the hunters of the expedition killed along the banks 
supplied them with abundant food. 

When the mouth of the Osage River was attained, 
the boats made their way up this stream, the villages 
of the Osage Indians being reached about the middle 
of August. Here the party was obliged to leave the 
water and make an overland journey to the Platte, the 
region of the Pawnee tribe, which they had been 
directed to visit. They were now on the extreme 
outskirts of civilization, Peter Chouteau, a French 
fur-trader, having a trading-house near the Grand 
Osage Village, the last white man's habitation they 
would find north of New Mexico. 

Horses were bought from the Osage Indians, and 
on the 1st of September, well mounted and in high 
spirits, the party set out on its land journey, a large 
escort of warriors accompanying their late honored 
guests for some distance outward. The route lay at 
first along the banks of the Osage, and then across 
the plains to the Neosho, a northern branch of the 
Arkansas. As he rode across the dividing ridge be- 
tween the two streams, Pike gazed with deep delight 
upon the scene that lay revealed before him, — that of 
the green and treeless prairies of Kansas, which 
seemed to him of enchanting beauty. 

From the Neosho they rode to the Smoky Hill 
River and thence to the Republican, two streams that 



3io HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

flowed into the Kansas. On the waters of the Repub- 
lican dwelt the Pawnees, whom Pike was bidden to 
proffer peace and friendship. He found them in a 
very different temper from the Osages. A tribe of 
evil reputation, they had recently been visited by a 
delegation from New Mexico, whose purpose was to 
poison the minds of the Indians against the Ameri- 
cans. 

The Spaniards, three hundred in number, seemed 
an imposing band in contrast with the paltry twenty- 
three who followed Captain Pike into their villages, 
and the Indian warriors, judging the power of each 
nation by the size of its embassy, looked upon the 
Americans with contempt. 

There was evidently nothing to be done with them 
while in this mood. In fact, they were not safe to 
be among, and while Pike met their inhospitable looks 
and words with a show of boldness, and hoisted the 
flag of his country in their chief village, he found it 
expedient not to tarry long in their midst. From 
their settlements his road lay southward to the Arkan- 
sas, which was reached on October 18. It was one 
of the main objects of his journey to explore this 
stream. 

The party now divided, Lieutenant Wilkinson going 
down the river to trace it through its lower course, 
while Pike reserved for himself the far more difficult 
task of following it upward to its mountain-springs. 
These reached, he proposed to cross to the head- 
waters of the Red River and descend this stream to 
known regions at Natchitoches. His purpose was thus, 
as may be seen, twofold, to explore the country and 
gain the friendship of the natives. 

His plans were broad, but they were destined not to 
be realized, while a period of privation and suffering 



IN AMERICA 311 

which only the young and strong could have endured 
lay before him. He was at this time only twenty- 
seven years of age and robust enough to bear severe 
hardships. As the small party went on the river 
steadily sank in dimensions, growing narrow and 
shallow as the vicinity of the mountains was reached. 

Soon they were buried deeply among the Colorado 
hills, while as they advanced lofty peaks rose in gran- 
deur before them. The stream they were following 
lost itself in the rugged range, and to find its upper 
waters, and observe the surrounding country, Pike 
turned northward among the hills. As he went on 
they grew higher, and at length there loomed before 
him a stupendous peak, soaring more than fourteen 
thousand feet above sea-level, and with few rivals in 
the whole mighty chain. It was the famous summit 
since fitly known as Pike's Peak. 

Climbing with no small toil to its frozen top, the 
daring explorer had before him a grand view of roll- 
ing hills and intermediate valleys, stretching for many 
miles away, while to the eastward lay the great prairie 
level. From that day to this the lofty summit has 
been a place of pilgrimage to tourists, and many thou- 
sands of eyes have gazed with delight and wonder 
upon the matchless landscape then first unfolded 
before the eyes of civilized man, — perhaps of all men, 
for the Indians were little likely to climb its pre- 
cipitous sides. 

So far all had gone well, but now misfortune fell 
upon the prospectors. Winter was upon them, — a 
winter in the chill depths of the Rockies. Ice closed 
the streams ; snow filled the passes. Leaving the 
upper waters of the Arkansas, Captain Pike made 
an active search for the sources of the Red River, but 
in vain. He was fairly lost among the hills, and at 



3 i2 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

length the question of how to escape at all became 
more potent than that of tracing the streams. Days 
were spent in seeking to find the trail followed by 
the Spaniards in their expedition to the villages of 
the Pawnees, but the snow everywhere hid it. The 
party went astray in the mountains, wandering to and 
fro, often without food or shelter, their leader almost 
alone retaining courage in their extremity. 

The banks of a frozen stream were at length 
reached, which Pike thought to be the one he sought. 
But, men and animals alike exhausted and food nearly 
gone, search was at an end, and the future of the ex- 
pedition became a desperate struggle for life. Con- 
vinced that the Spanish town of Santa Fe could not 
be far away, the leader determined to give up his help- 
less wanderings, encamp where he was, and send some 
one in search of aid. 

Dr. Robinson, one of the strongest among the party, 
and a hunter of skill and prowess, volunteered for this 
duty and set out through the hills. During his absence 
the men were put to building a block-house for shelter, 
while Pike, with his rifle, scoured the adjacent coun- 
try in search of game. During one of these hunting- 
trips he was surprised by the appearance of two horse- 
men in Spanish garb, who rode up, saying that they 
came from Santa Fe, where Dr. Robinson had safely 
arrived. He was gratified to learn that the New 
Mexican capital was but two days' journey distant. 
Dr. Robinson, they said, would soon be heard from, 
and they rode with him to his camp. 

A few days after these men had left a squadron of 
Spanish cavalry rode up to the block-house and in- 
formed Captain Pike that the stream he was camped 
upon was the Rio Grande, and that he was on Spanish 
ground. The officer in command explained that he 



IN AMERICA 313 

had come to take him and his men prisoners. The 
authorities of Texas and New Mexico had been 
warned to be on their guard against the expedition of 
Aaron Burr, whose purposes were mistrusted, and 
they looked on Pike's expedition as an advance party 
of a force designed for the seizure of New Mexico. 
They were accordingly taken to Santa Fe as prisoners 
of Spain. 

Very probably the poor fellows were glad enough 
to get there in any way, after their severe hardships 
and the danger of death from cold and hunger which 
confronted them. In their many leagues of wander- 
ing they had lost all their bearings and were now far 
south of the Mexican border. A sorry-looking crew 
they were. Pike thus describes the aspect of himself 
and his men : 

" When we presented ourselves at Santa Fe I was 
dressed in a pair of blue trousers, moccasins, blanket- 
coat, and a cap made of scarlet cloth lined with fox 
skins, and my poor fellows in leggings, breech-cloths, 
and leather coats. There was not a hat in the whole 
party. Our appearance was extremely mortifying to 
us all, especially as soldiers. Greater proof cannot be 
given of the ignorance of the common people here 
than their asking if we lived in houses, or camps like 
the Indians, or if we wore hats in our country." 

However, they were not long held as prisoners, Pike 
being able to convince the Spanish authorities that he 
was out on an exploring expedition in his own country, 
and that he had strayed blindly upon Spanish soil. 
After a brief detention they were sent back by way 
of El Paso, San Antonio, and Natchitoches to the 
United States, an armed escort accompanying. The 
latter place was reached July 1, 1807. Pike's papers 
had been taken from him, and he was obliged to de- 



3 i4 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

pend on memory in giving an account of his interesting 
expedition. 

His story of life and conditions in New Mexico is 
interesting. The people lived in one-storied mud 
houses with peat roofs ; the great bulk of the popula- 
tion being Indians or half-breeds. Not one in twenty 
could boast Castilian blood. Santa Fe was about a 
mile long, but only three streets in width, lying along 
the banks of a mountain-creek. " Seen from a dis- 
tance, I was struck with the resemblance to a fleet of 
flat-boats floating down the Ohio in the spring." The 
population was about four thousand five hundred. 

Then, as now, New Mexico was a sheep-raising 
country, and Captain Pike passed a flock of about 
fifteen thousand of these animals, escorted by some 
three hundred drovers and forty soldiers. They were 
being sent to exchange for merchandise in other prov- 
inces. One planter, at Paso del Norte, who enter- 
tained Pike in his house, was the owner of twenty 
thousand sheep and one thousand cows. 

A few words must complete the interesting story of 
Captain Pike. Made colonel in 1812, and brigadier- 
general in 1813, during the war with England, he 
commanded the expedition against York (now 
Toronto), in Canada. Landing April 27, 1813, he 
carried one battery by assault and was moving on the 
main works when he met his death through the ex- 
plosion of a magazine. Pike's Peak remains as the 
monument of his fame. 



IN AMERICA 315 



STEPHEN H. LONG AND THE SOURCES 
OF THE PLATTE 

The region west of the Mississippi was largely un- 
discovered country when explored by Lewis and 
Clark and Zebulon M. Pike in 1805-06. Its settle- 
ment was well under way in 1819, when Major 
Stephen H. Long was sent by President Monroe on 
a similar expedition. Settlers were drifting into it in 
scattered numbers, but the mountain-region had still 
been little explored, and no easy passes through it 
were known. The route followed by Lewis and 
Clark was a formidable maze of difficulties. Cer- 
tainly the whole vast chain was not so rugged as this. 
Possibly the Platte might lead to an easier route than 
that at the head of the Missouri, and it was partly to 
settle this question that Major Long was sent out. 

Twelve years had passed since Captain Pike re- 
turned from a similar expedition, but in that time 
civilization had made marked steps of advance. Pike 
went up the Missouri in row-boats ; Major Long 
went up it in a steamboat. This, named the " West- 
ern Engineer," had been built for the purpose in Pitts- 
burg, and took him as far up as Council Bluffs, where 
he spent the winter in camp. 

Pike had found the country an unsettled wilderness 
except for the wigwams of the Indians. Long found 
settlements springing up along the stream. They were 
rude frontier settlements still, the outposts of the 
coming army of settlers, prosperity being indicated 
not by comfortable homes, but by greater size and 
number of corn-cribs and other out-houses. 



316 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

The winter passed, Long made his way up the 
Platte, coming first to the Otoe villages, some forty 
miles from the Missouri, and continuing until the 
Pawnee country was reached. Pike had met an un- 
friendly reception from this warlike tribe, but Long 
found them in more peaceable mood. Yet there was 
about them a spirit of savage independence such as 
he had not before seen, and which commanded his 
admiration. As the knights of old were used to hang 
out their shields before their tents, so the Pawnee 
warriors displayed theirs before their dwellings, as if 
in defiance of foes. 

On leaving the homes of this tribe, in a region to 
which the white invasion had not yet reached, Long 
led his party down the south fork of the Platte, and in 
July, 1820, reached the mountains, nearly a thousand 
miles away from the point where he had left the Mis- 
souri at Council Bluffs. 

His journey across the prairie region had not been 
without interesting incidents, and was especially 
notable for the multitude of wild animals met with, 
of varied species, small and large. At one place a 
large and beautiful village of prairie-dogs was passed, 
and as they approached it a great herd of buffaloes, 
several thousands in number, was seen, spread widely 
over the plain. Near by the boatmen beheld a troop 
of wild horses, careering swiftly over the level surface, 
while close at hand a score or more of antelopes and 
half as many deer stood gazing in wonder at the boats. 
Sunset was near, and as its rays fell in long lines over 
the grassy level the inmates of the prairie-dog village 
were seen running playfully about. When the trav- 
ellers drew nearer they fled to their burrows, where 
they sat in upright defiance, giving the short, sharp 
bark to which they owe their name. 



IN AMERICA 317 

The mountains entered, the party followed the Platte 
deeply into their defiles, reaching on July 13 the lofty 
elevation since known as Long's Peak. Dr. James, 
the botanist and historian of the expedition, made his 
way to the summit of this mountain, which rivals 
Pike's Peak in height. 

From this point the expedition turned to the south 
until the head-waters of the Arkansas were reached. 
They were now in the vicinity of Pike's Peak, and 
some of them emulated its discoverer in ascending it 
for the magnificent view from its summit. To the 
west the mountains rose in billowy masses and lofty 
peaks, while far eastward spread the vast plain they 
had recently traversed, " rising as it receded until it 
appeared to mingle with the sky." 

The party here divided, some members of it descend- 
ing the Arkansas, others making their way eastward 
down the Canadian, its longest tributary, they coming 
together again at Fort Smith, below the junction of 
these streams. Their report of the country in the 
upper waters of the Platte and the Arkansas was not 
encouraging to intending settlers, it being made up of 
sandy wastes unfit for the purposes of the farmer. 
Wood was wanting, game was very scarce, and at 
times the streams sank and vanished in the sands, so 
that the explorers had to dig in their dry beds for 
water. At one part of their journey they followed 
the bed of the Arkansas for more than a hundred miles 
without seeing water. It was a country doomed, in 
their opinion, to perpetual desolation and barrenness, — 
the " Great American Desert," as it long appeared on 
the maps. 

From Fort Smith, a new military outpost, the ex- 
plorers followed the Arkansas downward to the Mis- 
sissippi, visiting on their way the Hot Springs of the 



318 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

Washita, and at every step downward finding evi- 
dences of the coming inflow of the whites, which in 
time to come was to spread over the whole country 
they had traversed and blot the Great American 
Desert from the map of the United States. 

In 1823-24 Major Long was sent on a second ex- 
ploring expedition, this time to the upper Mississippi, 
in which he ascended to the source of Saint Peter's 
(Minnesota) River, visited the Lake of the Woods, 
and explored other sections of the northern frontier 
region. 

Something may be said about the later career of 
Major Long. He was chief-engineer in the Baltimore 
and Ohio Railroad survey, became a skilled bridge- 
builder, and in 1856 was in charge of the work for 
the improvement of the Mississippi. He died in 1864, 
at eighty years of age. 



IN AMERICA 319 



JOHN C. FREMONT, THE PATHFINDER 
OF THE WEST 

In 1842 there set out on a career of exploration in 
the West one of the most famous of our heroes of 
discovery, John C. Fremont, the " Great Pathfinder." 
Fremont did some exploring work before that, and 
had just helped J. N. Nicollet to discover the sources 
of the Mississippi when he was sent by the govern- 
ment on a mission of broader purpose. His work lay 
now in the far West, and he was especially required to 
survey the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains, which 
was then the usual crossing-place of this great chain. 

St. Louis had by this time expanded from a fur- 
trading station to a good-sized town, and here Lieu- 
tenant Fremont fitted out his expedition and selected 
his men, about twenty in all, mostly Creole and Cana- 
dian fur-hunters, men who knew the ways of the In- 
dians and how to live in the wilderness. For guides 
he chose the famous scout and hunter, Kit Carson, 
and another well-known hunter named Maxwell, men 
who knew every foot of the country from the Mis- 
sissippi to the mountains. 

Hardy and knowing fellows were all those who set 
out on that May day in 1842 for their real starting- 
point, then a little hamlet on Kansas River, a landing- 
place for Peter Chouteau, the fur-trader, now the site 
of the bustling Kansas City. Up to this point they 
had gone through a settled country, the outposts of 
civilization having moved three hundred and fifty 
miles westward since the days of Pike and Long. 

As the little band of horsemen and mule teams, with 



3 20 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

Kit Carson for chief guide, set out for the deeper 
West, it was to find that others had gone that way 
before them and left the track of their wagon wheels 
in the yielding soil. The route was marked out by 
daring emigrants, and the cavalcade rode merrily on, 
enjoying the freedom of the broad plain by day, pitch- 
ing their tents at night within a circle made by their 
wagons. They were now in the Indian country and 
the savages were not to be trusted too far. Caution 
was necessary. In fact, at one point a fight appeared 
imminent, a strong band of Arapahoe warriors riding 
furiously on the little party with war-cries and bran- 
dished weapons. Fortunately Maxwell, the hunter, 
had traded with the tribe and hailed the chief in his 
own language. The chief heard and knew him, 
checked the warriors in their savage career, and rode 
up to Fremont with welcoming hand. 

Following the Kansas River for some distance, the 
party then set out across country for the Platte, which 
they were next to follow. They divided when the 
forks of the river were reached, some of the men fol- 
lowing the North Fork, while Fremont and the others 
took the line of the South Fork. This they followed 
almost to Long's Peak, where they turned northward 
and joined the other party at Fort Laramie. This 
was then a simple enclosure of adobe houses with 
bastions and palisades, being one of the few remote 
outposts in the wilderness. 

So far the journey had been safe and with little 
hardship or adventure, but the garrison at Fort Lara- 
mie reported trouble ahead. Hostilities had broken 
out between the Indians and the whites on the Platte, 
the mountains before them swarmed with braves in 
their war-paint, and the path was ordered closed. The 
explorers would be in serious danger if they went on 



IN AMERICA 321 

before this hostile feeling quieted down. Four 
friendly chiefs came to the fort and, rinding that the 
prospectors were striking their tents, advised them not 
to set out, saying that bands of young warriors were 
in the field and were hot for war. This warning had 
very little effect on Fremont, who said to the chiefs : 

" When you told us that your young men would kill 
us you did not know that our hearts were strong, and 
you did not see the rifles which my young men carry 
in their hands. We are few and you are many and 
may kill us, but there will be much crying in your 
villages, for many of your young men will stay behind 
and forget to return with your warriors from the 
mountains. Do you think that our great chief will let 
his soldiers die and forget to cover their graves? 
Before the snows melt again his warriors will sweep 
away your villages as the fire does the prairie in the 
autumn. See, I have pulled down my white houses 
and my people are ready; when the sun is ten paces 
higher we shall be on the march. If you have any- 
thing to tell us you will tell us soon." 

This defiant speech was not what the chiefs ex- 
pected. But they liked its boldness, and in the end 
gave the party one of their warriors for a guide. That 
evening the company was on the march again, Fre- 
mont feeling that his warrior guide would be a safe- 
guard against attack. As yet they had never been far 
from traces of civilization, but the country which they 
now entered proved a desolate and difficult one. 
Though the Indians did not disturb them, nature 
proved a threatening foe. Food grew scarce and the 
country held little game. Starvation seemed threaten- 
ing as they went on. 

Fremont halted for a talk with his men. " We have 
only ten days' food supply," he said. " I intend to 
21 



Z22 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

push on and take my chances, but I do not want to 
lead any man into trouble, and any of you that wish 
to may turn back." Not a man flinched. " When our 
grub is gone we'll eat the mules," they said. 

They were now in the Rockies and needed to travel 
light-handed, so all their spare baggage was hidden 
in the bushes or buried in the sand hills near the Wind 
River, the traces of burial being smoothed down to 
hide the place from the Indians. Thus lightened, they 
moved rapidly forward and in a few days more found 
themselves ascending a gentle slope. Hardly recog- 
nizing the fact, they were in the place they had set out 
to seek, — the splendid South Pass. Instead of rugged 
heights and threatening gorges, a broad and gradual 
pathway led upward. Farther on its summit level 
was reached, and the waters they met soon after ran 
westward, showing that the water-shed was passed. 
Soon a beautiful ravine was gone through, and beyond 
it lay the charming Mountain Lake, " set like a gem 
in the mountains." From this flowed a strong stream, 
afterwards known to feed a branch of the Colorado 
River. 

The work they had set out to perform was done, but 
in majestic grandeur near the pass loomed up a lofty 
peak, which Fremont decided to ascend, if possible. 
With a few of his men he set out, crossing the inter- 
vening ridges and climbing the steep hill-sides with 
the utmost difficulty but with irrepressible energy, 
until the noble crest, 13,750 feet high, was reached, 
and before them like a map lay outspread the vast 
surrounding country. In one direction lay the lakes 
and streams which feed the Colorado and send their 
waters to the Gulf of California. In the other was 
visible the charming Wind River Valley, its waters 
flowing by way of the Yellowstone to the Missouri. 



IN AMERICA 323 

Far north rose the snowy top of the three Tetons, in 
which the Missouri and the Columbia have their 
springs. All around were mountain-walls, cliffs, and 
gorges innumerable, rising and spreading in a thou- 
sand forms of grandeur, and many of them whitened 
with deep fallen snow. " We stood," said Fremont, 
" where human foot had never stood before and felt 
the thrill of first explorers." To-day this lofty eleva- 
tion bears his name, as Fremont's Peak. 

Their work was done, a splendid and easy pass 
through the Rockies had been explored, through which 
countless emigrants were to make their way westward 
in the coming years. Collecting the specimens of 
minerals and plants they had gathered, and regaining 
their hidden stores, the party was soon back at Fort 
Laramie, and shortly after set out for the East, filled 
with the pride of success. 

Most of the country which Fremont had visited was 
already known to the emigrant. But it was not known 
in any scientific sense. He made careful observation 
of heights and distances, latitude and longitude, bar- 
renness and fertility; noted where grass, wood, and 
water offered places for camping and settling; and 
brought home with him an abundant collection of 
mineral and vegetable specimens. He advised the 
government to establish strong military posts at Lara- 
mie and other places to keep the Indians in awe. And 
he did much to dispel the false idea of the " Great 
American Desert" which Major Long's report had 
fostered. 

The barren plains found by Long seemed full of the 
elements of fertility to Fremont. Over these extensive 
plains the buffalo roamed in enormous herds, finding 
good grazing everywhere, and wild game of many 
kinds was plentiful. Where these animals could live 



324 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

the cattle of the emigrants could find food and future 
settlers would doubtless make their homes. Grad- 
ually, in after years, the desert dwindled away on the 
maps until it quite disappeared. 

Such was the outcome of the first of Fremont's 
explorations. He made several others, crossing the 
mountains at various points, and traversing the coun- 
try west of them far and wide, doing far more than 
any other man in discovering the features of that great 
country. And in doing this he was many times ready 
to die of hunger, and only his indomitable perse- 
verance brought him success. We cannot give these 
later journeys in detail, but a brief account of them 
will be of interest. 

The government was so well pleased with his suc- 
cess that it sent him out again the next year. This 
was his longest and most important journey. He was 
well on his way when orders were sent him to return 
at once to Washington. Some enemy or rival there 
had been working mischief for him. The order fell 
into the hands of his wife, but she, suspecting what it 
meant, held it back till he was too far away to be 
reached. So his foes had wrought in vain. 

Fremont made his way across the mountains again 
and went on until he reached that marvel of nature, 
the Great Salt Lake. This had been visited by others 
before him, but he was the first to explore it. He had 
travelled seventeen hundred miles in four months, and 
before winter set in made his way north to the Colum- 
bia, which he followed far towards its mouth. At 
every point careful observations and surveys were 
made. 

Fremont had now done all he had been ordered to 
do, but he was far from satisfied. The vast region 
which lay west of the Rocky Mountains was almost 



IN AMERICA 325 

unknown, and he was eager to traverse it. Winter 
was almost upon him, but without hesitation he set 
out through the untrodden country to the south. It 
was a terrible venture. The wintry chill soon fell 
upon the party; snow came down till the earth lay 
buried in white; no food was to be had except the 
little they carried; and between them and the valleys 
of California lay the rugged ranges of the Sierra 
Nevada Mountains. They were in the Great Basin 
of the West, that seat of arid barrenness. 

The Indians they met would not attempt to lead 
them over the great mountain-barrier. They said it 
could not be crossed. No money would tempt them 
to act as guides. But some of them said there was a 
pass farther south and told how it could be found, 
and Fremont led his men towards it. They reached 
it only to discover that beyond it lay another and 
higher range. To turn back now would be fatal. To 
go on alone seemed equally fatal. They must have a 
guide or they would perish. At last, by offering a very 
large present, they induced a young Indian to guide 
them. It was now the 1st of February, but forty days 
more passed before they reached the Sacramento 
River, a worn-out, half-starved band, while half their 
horses had perished and been devoured for food. 

It was not until Fremont reached his home in July 
that he learned of the letter of recall which his wife 
had suppressed. Those who sent it were perhaps 
ashamed of their action when they learned of the 
splendid work the explorer had done and the terrible 
sufferings endured by the devoted band. Instead of 
blame, only praise awaited the Pathfinder, and Europe 
and America alike hailed him as one of the most in- 
trepid of modern discoverers. 

A man like Fremont could not safely be shelved. 



326 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

In 1845, tne y ear a ^ ter ms return, he was sent out 
again, this time as captain of United States engineeers. 
He now sought to find out more about the Salt Lake 
and the Great Basin between the Rockies and the Sierra 
Nevada, and it was midwinter when he once more 
crossed the latter range and came into California. 

While he was there the war between the United 
States and Mexico broke out, and he was ordered by 
the Mexican authorities to leave the country. This 
he refused to do, collected the Americans who were 
settled along the Sacramento, and acted with such 
skill and despatch that by July he was master of the 
whole of Northern California. A fleet had been sent 
to the coast under Commodore Stockton, and, co- 
operating with this, Fremont played a leading part in 
the total conquest of California. 

This led to a quarrel with General Kearney, who 
had marched from Santa Fe to California, and the 
quarrel ended in Fremont being arrested by Kearney 
and sent as a prisoner to Washington. He was tried 
there, found guilty of mutiny and disobedience, and 
dismissed from the government service. The Presi- 
dent granted him a pardon and offered him his old 
place in the army, but he was too high-spirited to 
accept and retired to private life. 

Fremont's career as an explorer was by no means 
at an end. In 1848 gold was found in California and 
the great migration thither began. The gold region 
could be reached only by a long and dangerous over- 
land journey or a much longer water route. The 
Pathfinder wished to find a more direct line of travel, 
and set out at his own expense to do so. He now went 
south, making an easy journey to Santa Fe. But 
beyond this point he fell into the most terrible distress 
he had ever known. 



IN AMERICA 327 

The route he traversed was peopled by hostile In- 
dians. Winter added its dangers to this, and while 
the little party was entangled among the snow-covered 
Sierras the guide lost his way. In the end they were 
forced to turn back, but before they could cross the 
barren region to Santa Fe one-third of the party and 
all the horses had died of cold and hunger. 

But the pass was there, he was sure it was there; 
and the next year he was off again with thirty men. 
Once more he failed to find what he wanted, though 
he crossed the Sierras and reached the Sacramento 
River. Again, in 1853, the intrepid explorer set out 
in search of the southern pass, and this time with 
success. Reaching the point where the guide had lost 
his way in 1848, he traced from there a series of 
passes to the Golden State. 

But this was at the cost of sufferings equal to those 
of 1848. Provisions gave out ; the country was bleak 
and barren; for fifty days the men lived on the flesh 
of their horses; at times they went hungry for two 
whole days; so severe was the winter that even the 
Indians deserted the country; and for three hundred 
miles not a human being or an animal was met. So 
great was their distress that Fremont, fearing lest 
extreme hunger might make cannibals of his men, 
obliged them to swear that they would shoot the first 
man that attempted to appease his hunger with the 
flesh of a comrade. 

At last California was reached, only one man having 
died on the way, though the rest were in a state of 
pitiable debility. Such a route was not one for men 
to follow, but Fremont had found a pass through 
which a railroad could be built, so that the suffering 
of himself and men had not been without avail. 

In 1856 the honor due the Great Pathfinder was 



328 



HEROES OF DISCOVERY 



paid him in his nomination as the first candidate of 
the new Republican party for the Presidency. He re- 
ceived one hundred and fourteen electoral votes 
against one hundred and seventy-four for his oppo- 
nent, an excellent showing for a brand-new party. 
How the election of Fremont by the Republican party 
would have been received by the secession advocates 
of the South it is difficult to say, for he was himself 
of Southern origin, having been born in Savannah, 
Georgia, in 1813, his father a Frenchman, his mother 
a Virginian lady. In 1861 he was commissioned 
major-general in the regular army, and took some part 
in the war, resigning in 1862. He received the same 
commission on the retired list in April, 1890, and died 
in July of the same year. 






IN AMERICA 329 



THE SAVING OF OREGON AND THE 
ADVENTURES OF DR. WHITMAN 

The year 1842 completed the period of three and a 
half centuries from the discovery of America by Co- 
lumbus. In this period the double continent had been 
almost completely overrun and occupied. The whole 
vast domain south of the United States was the seat 
of nations of Spanish and Portuguese origin with the 
exception of Guiana and the West Indies, in which 
some other countries of Europe held a small footing. 
North of the United States lay Canada, in possession 
of Great Britain, and Alaska, under Russian control. 
Of the whole continental expanse only one available 
section remained in the hands of its original inhabitants, 
the red-skinned aborigines. This was the region of 
Oregon, between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific 
coast, a fertile land which the invading white man had 
not yet claimed. We have now to show how the prob- 
lem of ownership of Oregon was solved. 

It has been shown in previous stories how Jonathan 
Carver gave it its name, how Captain Gray discovered 
its great river, how Lewis and Clark followed this 
river to the sea, and how Fremont explored the region 
between the Columbia River and California. But it 
still remained without a master, the one fertile region 
of the continent left in Indian hands. 

There were questionable claims covering this region. 
When Jefferson bought Louisiana from France the 
western boundary of this purchase was held to be the 
Rocky Mountains, though some then and afterwards 
felt that it should reach to the western ocean. The 



330 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

Spanish of Mexico also made a vague claim to the 
region, and so did the English of Canada, while Russia 
was reaching out for that section when warned off by 
the Monroe Doctrine. Thus as late as the date men- 
tioned, 1842, it was still doubtful what nation would 
possess the Oregon country. Spain had relinquished 
its claim, but those of England and the United States 
remained. 

While these nations were taking matters very easily, 
as if neither of them thought Oregon worth the 
having, there were people in the United States and 
Canada who were more active. Oregon was a country 
rich in furs, and traders and trappers let no danger or 
difficulty stop them in their search for the small ani- 
mals that wore for clothing these valuable commodi- 
ties. As gold in the south lured the Spaniards into 
many distant and unknown regions, so furs in the 
north had a like effect on the French and English, 
and the fur-hunters were among the most daring and 
enterprising discoverers and explorers of America. 

It was the search for furs that led the first adven- 
turers to Oregon. The way across the mountains 
shown by Lewis and Clark was quickly followed. In 
1808 the fur-traders of St. Louis organized into the 
American Fur Company, which at once sent an agent 
across the mountains. He set up a trading-house on 
the Lewis River, an upper branch of the Columbia, 
naming it Fort Henry, and setting up an active trade 
with the Indians. 

But the great adventurer in this field was John 
Jacob Astor, the famous merchant and shipper of New 
York. He had already made a fortune out of furs, 
and to increase that fortune he determined to establish 
a great trading-station on the Columbia River. In 
1810 he sent out two companies, one in ships around 



IN AMERICA 331 

Cape Horn, another up the Missouri and over the 
mountains to the mouth of the Columbia. It was 
January, 181 2, when the latter party reached this point, 
worn-out and in utter destitution, and found a resting- 
place in Astoria, a settlement which the Cape Horn 
party had already built on the Columbia at a point ten 
miles from its mouth. 

There were two things which interfered with 
Astor's plans. The Northwest Fur Company, of 
Montreal, whose agent, Mackenzie, had found a way 
across the mountains years before, was now sending 
its agents into Oregon and buying furs from the In- 
dians on the upper waters of the Columbia. And in 
June, 1812, war broke out between England and the 
United States, and as it went on Astor's property was 
in danger of capture. So his agents sold Astoria and 
its trade to the Northwest Company in October, 181 3. 
Thus at this date an English company became the 
lords and masters in Oregon, and it looked as if that 
great country would fall into the hands of Great 
Britain. 

But neither England nor the United States troubled 
itself about that remote country. Absorbed in affairs 
at home, they knew little of what was taking place 
there. The country was left to the trappers, concern- 
ing whose character we may fitly quote Washington 
Irving's lucid description. After saying that the early 
traders travelled in boats by way of the lakes and 
rivers, he goes on to describe the later race of traders, 
who journeyed on horseback, traversing vast plains 
and scaling mountain-chains, in the wild recesses of 
which they pursued their hazardous vocation. This, 
he says, made them " physically and mentally a more 
lively race than the fur-traders and trappers of former 
days. A man who bestrides a horse must be essen- 



332 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

tially different from a man who cowers in a canoe. 
We find them, accordingly, hardy, lithe, vigorous; 
extravagant in word, in thought, and deed; heedless 
of hardships, daring of danger, prodigal of the present, 
and thoughtless of the future. 

" The American trapper stands by himself, and is 
peerless for the service of the wilderness. Drop him 
in the midst of the prairie, or in the heart of the 
mountains, and he is never at a loss. He notices every 
landmark, can retrace his route through the most 
monotonous plains or the most perplexed labyrinths 
of the mountains. No danger nor difficulty can appall 
him, and he scorns to complain under any privation." 

Such were the men who first made their way into 
Oregon. For a long time the Northwest and the 
Hudson Bay Companies had this region largely to 
themselves, though the American Fur-Trading Com- 
pany of St. Louis disputed the field with them. But 
none of these companies wanted settlers, and these 
were not encouraged to come. They desired a coun- 
try in a state of nature, and preferred to have the 
nations keep their hands off. Thus it was that many 
years passed and Oregon was left in the hands of the 
Indians and the trappers. For a long period after 
1818 England and the United States agreed to hold 
the Oregon country in common. But the English had 
the chief hold and the United States seemed losing 
its grip. When Thomas H. Benton asked the govern- 
ment to send an armed force there to hold the country, 
he was told that it was not worth the trouble. 

From time to time small parties of Americans 
drifted to Oregon and made their homes there. In 
1832 Captain Bonneville took a wagon train across 
the Wind River chain into the valley of Green River, 
and showed how easily the mountains could be crossed. 



IN AMERICA 333 

Others followed, an interesting party being made up 
of missionaries, who were sent to Oregon in 1834 and 
1835 for the purpose of converting the Indians to 
Christianity. One of these was Dr. Marcus Whit- 
man, who went with his wife to Fort Walla Walla 
with a wagon, a feat thought impossible at this cross- 
ing point. In later years Dr. Whitman became a 
famous figure in the history of Oregon. But its set- 
tlement went on very slowly, and in 1841 it held less 
than a hundred and fifty Americans. 

There were more in 1843, when Fremont reached 
the Columbia. Here, at Fort Walla Walla, nine miles 
below the junction of the two great branches of the 
Columbia, he found Dr. Whitman and the mission he 
had founded among the Nez Perces. Whitman had a 
clearing planted with corn and potatoes, and was able 
to feed Fremont and his men, as also to supply a body 
of emigrants who were there building boats to go 
down the river. This was discouraged by the Hudson 
Bay Company agents at the fort, who did their best 
to turn back the emigrants or to send them south to 
California, charging them high prices for supplies 
when they persisted in going on. 

It had before this become evident to the agents of 
the Hudson Bay Company that if they wanted the 
country they must take steps to secure it. The emi- 
gration from the United States was growing and could 
only be offset by an inflow from Canada, so settlers 
were brought in from the Red River country of the 
north to take hold of the best lands. A party of one 
hundred and forty arrived in 1842, and the news of 
their coming was announced at a dinner-party at Fort 
Walla Walla. One of the guests, excited by the tidings, 
flung his cap in the air, shouting, " Hurrah for Oregon. 
America is too late, and we have got the country." 



334 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

The story goes that Dr. Whitman was at this dinner 
and heard the indiscreet remark, and at once made up 
his mind to go to Washington and give the authorities 
there to understand that they must act at once or they 
would lose Oregon. This story is strongly questioned. 
Dr. Whitman's journey seems to have been under 
order of his church. He* had been sent for to report 
on the affairs at his mission. But his journey was a 
remarkable one and fairly claims place among the 
other narratives of western adventure we have given. 

It was in October that Whitman set out. Winter 
was already in the mountains. A journey of three 
thousand miles, much of it in the heart of the Rockies, 
was no trifle even in summer. In winter it promised 
to be terrible. He took with him one companion, 
Amos L. Love joy, a guide, and two or three pack- 
mules, and set off with his face to the East. 

Eleven days brought the small party to Fort Hall, 
another Hudson Bay station, whose agent, Captain 
Grant, was found to be eager to hold Oregon for 
England. From here the travellers struck south for 
Taos and Santa Fe, a route that would add hundreds 
of miles to the journey, but would bring them to a 
well-travelled trail to the States. They proposed to 
pass Great Salt Lake, then go southeast to Taos, and 
again south to Santa Fe. 

The journey proved one full of terrors. The snows 
were already deep, and a fierce storm forced them to 
seek shelter in a mountain-defile, where they were 
detained for ten days. The storm over, they wan- 
dered day after day blindly through the mountains, 
the guide at length confessing that he was lost and 
could lead them no farther. They did not dare go on 
under the circumstances, and Whitman decided to re- 
turn to a post they had recently passed, called Fort 



IN AMERICA 335 

Winter, and obtain another guide, leaving Love joy 
with the mules and horses. There was no forage for 
the animals but the bark of the cottonwood-trees. 

In seven days Whitman was back with a new guide, 
and the party resumed its journey and its adventures. 
Grand River, when reached, was found to be two- 
thirds frozen, the current running freely in its centre. 
The guide said that it was impossible to cross. To 
prove that he recognized no such word, Whitman 
plunged in, swam his horse across, and safely reached 
the opposite side. The others followed, and a blazing 
fire on the other side soon dried their clothes. 

Such was the type of their adventures. Before they 
reached Taos they were forced to kill their dogs and 
some of their mules for food. During their ten days' 
detention in the mountain-defile Dr. Whitman had 
owed his life to the sagacity of a mule. Impatient at 
the delay, he sought to escape by going over the 
divide; but the cold and storm forced him to turn 
back, and to his dismay he found that every vestige of 
his track was buried under the snow. He and his 
companions wandered aimlessly till they were half 
frozen, and in the end Whitman dismounted and com- 
mended himself to God, seeing nothing before him 
but burial under the white shroud of snow. 

In this frightful situation the Mexican guide saw 
significant movements of the ears of his mule. The 
poor creature was talking in his silent way. " We 
can trust him to find the camp," he said, and he let 
the reins fall. The wise animal at once set out in a 
new course, following a devious route through groves 
and over slopes, till at length the smell of smoke 
attracted them. In a few minutes more they were 
beside the smouldering logs of their late camp. 

Santa Fe reached, the route lay eastward, but their 



336 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

goal was not attained without fresh adventures. After 
one hard day's journey they reached a branch of the 
Arkansas, at a point without a tree or bush, though 
there was woodland beyond the stream. They had 
been drenched with rain, the cold was severe, and 
wood must in some way be obtained, but the ice on 
the river was too thin to bear a man's weight. 

Dr. Whitman was the man for the situation. Lying 
flat on the ice, he pushed the axe before him and 
wriggled across, cut what wood was needed, and came 
back in the same way, now pushing axe and fagots 
before him. Soon they were comfortable before a 
warm fire. That night their useful axe was stolen. 
A broken place in it had been mended with rawhide, 
and a famished wolf stole the weapon for the hide. 
Fortunately, they were near the settlements and the 
loss of the axe was not serious. Whitman reached 
Washington on March 3, having been just five months 
on the journey. 

The story he told of the beauty and fertility of 
Oregon awakened a new interest in that country, and 
the sentiment that it must be saved for the United 
States grew strong. Before the year reached its mid- 
season a large party of emigrants were on the way 
with two hundred wagons and abundant supplies. 
Whitman accompanied them, and on September 4 
reached his home, from which he had been eleven 
months absent. Others quickly followed, the Ameri- 
can population soon much outnumbered the English, 
and the question of the ownership of Oregon became 
a vital one. 

Shortly before Dr. Whitman reached the East a 
boundary treaty with Great Britain had been signed, 
fixing the line between the United States and Canada 
at 49 north latitude. But this extended only from 



IN AMERICA 337 

the Great Lakes to the Rocky Mountains, and Oregon 
was still left without an owner. Shortly after Whit- 
man's return the question as to who should own Ore- 
gon was much debated. Great Britain wanted it, at 
least as far as the Columbia River. The American 
claim was for the whole coast as far north as Alaska, 
and the political war-cry of the time was " Fifty-four 
forty or fight," — 54 ° 40' being the southern boundary 
of Alaska. Finally, the matter was settled in 1846 
by a treaty that continued the boundary of 49 ° to the 
Pacific coast, and the final question of ownership in 
America was decided. British Columbia was left to 
Canada, and the United States got what now com- 
prises the States of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. 



22 



338 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 



THE GALLANT EXPLORERS OF THE 
FROZEN SEAS 

One final field of American discovery remains to be 
described, that lying north of the continent, among 
the islands and waters of the Arctic zone. We have 
told the stories of Frobisher, Davis, Hudson, and 
others who in early days sought in vain for a north- 
west passage through the Arctic seas from Europe to 
Asia. Such a passage existed, as was proved in later 
times, but ice and cold held it captive and the demon 
of death spread his wings over its waters. We have 
further told how Hearne and Mackenzie gazed upon 
these waters after a long journey overland. Such was 
the state of affairs when the nineteenth century 
dawned, and daring men again sought these seas. 

We have now the later story of Arctic explorations 
to tell, and will begin with the journeys overland. The 
earliest of these was made by the famous Sir John 
Franklin, who followed the track of Hearne down the 
Coppermine River in 1819, and of Mackenzie down 
the Mackenzie River in 1825, and traversed hundreds 
of miles along the bleak Arctic coast. In his first expe- 
dition he travelled, by boats and on foot, over five thou- 
sand five hundred and fifty miles. Later journeys 
through Canada were made by Dease, Simpson, and 
Rae, and by the middle of the century the northern 
coast line of the continent had become fairly well 
known. 

Meanwhile ship after ship had sought the frozen 
seas and new discoveries were being made. Ross and 
Parry led the van. They sailed in 1818 and made 



IN AMERICA 339 

their way through Lancaster Sound into the island- 
studded sea beyond. Of those who followed them, 
the chief in interest was Sir John Franklin, whose 
land journeys are spoken of above. His was the first 
great tragedy of the northern seas, he the first famous 
victim of the frost king, and his fate for many years 
remained a mystery. 

It was on the 9th of May, 1845, that Franklin's two 
ships, the " Erebus" and " Terror," sailed from the 
Thames in search of that fatal lure to mariners, the 
Northwest Passage. Into the mouth of death they 
sailed and vanished from human sight. Ships and 
sailors alike were never seen again, though for years 
they were diligently sought, Lady Franklin and others 
sending out many expeditions in their search. One 
of these, that under McClure, entered by way of 
Bering Strait in 1850, and after his ship was frozen 
fast he made his way eastward by sledges until he 
reached Atlantic waters. This is called the first dis- 
covery of the Northwest Passage, though it is believed 
that Sir John Franklin had discovered it before. 

In 1 85 1 no less than six expeditions sailed in search 
of the lost mariners, but the first to find any trace of 
them was McClintock, in 1857. He secured from the 
Eskimos many relics of the vanished party, and found 
on the coast of King William's Land a document 
which they had left. This told of the death of Frank- 
lin in 1847, an d stated that the vessels were so clipped 
in by the ice that their rescue was hopeless, and that 
the survivors, one hundred and five in number, had 
started in the spring of 1848 for the Great Fish River 
of Canada. But cold and hunger proved implacable 
enemies, and the document they left behind was the 
last known of them. An American expedition under 
Lieutenant Schwatka made its way overland in sledges 



340 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

in 1879-80, discovering the grave of an officer of the 
" Terror," and bringing back fresh relics of the party, 
though no trace of its lost records could be found. 

The first and most famous of the American ex- 
plorers to take part in the search for the vanished 
mariners was Elisha Kent Kane. He sailed for the 
Arctic seas in 1850 and again in 1853, and while find- 
ing no trace of Franklin and his men, made important 
discoveries, reaching the parallel of 81 ° 22' N., the 
highest known to that time. In the end he and his 
men, attacked by cold, hunger, and scurvy, were 
obliged to abandon their ship and start south with 
boats and sledges. They finally reached the Danish 
Greenland settlement of Upernivik, the most northerly 
settlement of civilized man on the globe. They were 
fortunate in that only one man died on the journey 
and all their instruments and records were saved. 

Dr. Kane's surgeon, Dr. Isaac I. Hayes, led an expe- 
dition to the polar seas in i860, and Captain Charles F. 
Hall made three later voyages thither, reaching the 
parallel of 82 11' N. in 1870. A British expedition 
under Captain Nares went still higher in 1875-76, 
reaching 83 ° 20', the highest point to that time. 

A famous American expedition was that which 
sailed from Baltimore on June 14, 1881, under Lieu- 
tenant Greely, of the United States navy, and reached 
the latitude of 83 ° 24', a few miles higher than that 
of Captain Nares. Only great powers of endurance 
saved Greely and his men from the fate of the unfor- 
tunate Franklin. They failing to return, two expedi- 
tions were sent to the relief of the party, but both came 
back without finding the ill-fated mariners. Provis- 
ioned for two years only, in August, 1883, Greely and 
his men found themselves with only forty days' rations 
and the horrors of an Arctic winter before them. No 



IN AMERICA 341 

game was to be had and a lingering death by starva- 
tion seemed their inevitable fate. 

Greely and his men had been sent north for the pur- 
pose of making scientific observations, and landed at 
Lady Franklin Bay, in Grinnell Land, where the ship 
left them, with the understanding that they would be 
sent for the next year. Two winters in the frozen 
north had now been passed and the third was fast com- 
ing, while no trace of the looked-for relief-ships had 
been seen. Yet with a terrible death staring them in the 
face the devoted Greely and his men kept up their 
scientific observations, even when disease and famine 
had so reduced their strength that the living were 
scarcely able to bury the dead, and the gaunt, haggard 
survivors staggered to their work till their powers 
utterly failed. It was an example of devotion to duty 
that has never been excelled. 

The fatal mistake of the government had been in 
failing to establish an intermediate supply station 
which vessels from the south could reach and leave 
food, and to which the voyagers could retreat if in 
need. Even the relief-ships failed to leave such a supply. 
No help coming, Greely fell back to Cape Sabine, 
on Smith's Sound, in August, hoping there to find 
the much needed food. But none was found except 
the stores which Sir George Nares had left there 
years before. These, though barely fit to eat, were 
consumed, and the hapless men settled down to face 
their fast advancing enemy, famine. Yet in despite of 
this they kept up their observations to the last. 

The long winter passed, the spring of 1884 came; 
finally the last scrap of eatable material was consumed, 
and, one after another, the fated crew fell into the 
arms of death. In June, 1884, two vessels, under 
Commander Schley, appeared off the camp of death, 



342 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

the eyes of the rescuers gazing with horror on the 
unburied dead lying around. It appeared too late; 
death, they were sure, had finished his ghastly work, 
when from the tent staggered a form gaunt as a ghost, 
with the last vestiges of life in its shrunken limbs. It 
was that of the heroic Greely. He and five of his men 
proved to be still alive. Two days' more delay and 
death would have claimed them all. With tender care 
the survivors were nursed back to life and brought 
home, and for many years the heroic Greely has been 
the chief of the United States Signal Service. 

After the period named numbers of expeditions 
sought the north, their purpose no longer being to find 
the useless Northwest Passage, but to solve the mys- 
tery of the North Pole. Chief among those engaged 
in this search in American waters was Lieutenant 
Robert B. Peary, of the United States navy, the most 
persistent and indefatigable of all those who have 
taken part in polar research. He was, with little inter- 
mission, engaged for twenty years in this work. 
His explorations began in 1886, when he left the coast 
of Greenland and went far into the frozen interior. 
Filled with the thirst of the explorer, he returned in 
"1891, founded a station at McCormick Bay, in north 
Greenland, and made a brilliant sledge journey six 
hundred and fifty miles long over the interior ice, 
reaching the northeast coast at a point named by him 
Independence Bay, in latitude 81 ° 37' N. He made a 
second expedition in 1893-95, and again crossed to 
Independence Bay, though at imminent risk of his life. 
In a third journey north in 1897 he brought back with 
him an immense meteorite found at Cape York. 

All this only served to spur Peary's ambition. 
Others were in eager search for the Pole, and he 
wished to secure the honor for his native country if 



IN AMERICA 343 

possible. Nansen, the Swede, had reached in eastern 
waters the unmatched latitude of 86° 14' N., two hun- 
dred and sixty-one miles from the Pole, a fact which 
doubly stirred Peary's ambition. So he applied for 
and obtained five years' leave of absence from his 
naval duties, hoping within this time to cross the 
northern ice-field and plant the Stars and Stripes upon 
the Pole. 

His voyage in 1897 had been to make arrangements 
for the work before him and secure the aid of the 
Eskimos. He returned in 1898. Establishing himself 
at a point in the far north, he devoted himself for five 
years to his chosen purpose, despite the fact that in 
one of his sledge journeys his feet were frozen and 
he lost several of his toes. His first dash for the Pole 
was made in the spring of 1900, but he found that he 
had started too late in the season, the sea ice being 
broken and the snow soft and slushy from the advance 
of warm weather. He tried again in 1901, and this 
time he reached the latitude of 83 ° 50' and then was 
obliged to turn back, the men and dogs being out of 
condition for travel. 

Another winter was spent in the bleak and terrible 
north, and when the new spring came round the tire- 
less searcher set out once more, this time in early 
March, his final dash from the northern coast being 
begun on April 1, with four Eskimos and his faithful 
black attendant, Henson. Misfortune attended him. 
The ice of the northern sea proved to be broken into 
lanes of open water and heaped up into steep ridges, 
over which the heavy sledges had to be lifted by main 
strength. Progress was slow and difficult, and after 
struggling onward for ten days and making nearly 
one hundred miles over the broken and rugged sur- 
face, the struggle became too perilous and a return 



344 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

imperative. It was a bitter moment for the daring 
explorer, for it seemed an end to his ardent hopes. 
He had reached the parallel of 84 17' ', four hundred 
and four statute miles from the Pole, the farthest yet 
attained in the American seas. 

But the indefatigable Peary was not yet conquered. 
He felt that his experience in polar navigation was too 
valuable to be thrown aside, and that fortune might 
yet give him the prize, and he was no sooner back in 
America than a determination to reach the goal, if 
possible, arose again in his mind. Having a vessel 
of great steam power and rigid construction built 
expressly for polar service, Peary set out again in 
the summer of 1905, proposing to winter much far- 
ther north than formerly, at Lady Franklin Bay (81 ° 
44' N.) or even some higher point. His purpose was 
to reduce the length of the dash for the pole which 
he proposed to make in the spring of 1906, in a final 
great effort to reach the pole. 

In 1905 a feat in Arctic research which had been 
many times attempted, since Frobisher's pioneer effort 
in 1576, the finding of a Northwest Passage, was first 
accomplished. We have spoken of the journey of 
McClure eastward from Bering Sea in 1850-54. But 
that was in great part a sledge journey. In 1905 Cap- 
tain Roand Amundsen, a Norwegian, forced his vessel 
across the Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific, finding an available, though in part very shal- 
low waterway. After more than three centuries the 
great feat was accomplished. While for commercial 
purposes the route proved to be utterly useless, it was 
a great event in the annals of discovery. 



IN AMERICA 345 



ROBERT E. PEARY AND THE DISCOVERY 
OF THE NORTH POLE 

In the preceding article the efforts of Lieutenant 
Peary to win for his country the honor of discovering 
the North Pole have been spoken of so far as his earlier 
attempts were concerned, closing with his voyage in 
1905 in which he hoped to make a final dash for that 
great goal which for so many years had been sought 
without success. In this effort he was once more 
unsuccessful, failing to reach the elusive end of his 
many earnest endeavors. But he had learned much in 
his various attempts, and in 1908 set sail again, this time 
with the signal result, in the following year, of reaching 
the northern extremity of the earth's axis. This 
remarkable achievement won him the plaudits of the 
world. He had gained for his country the credit of a 
discovery which so long and so eagerly had been sought, 
and we may fitly devote the following pages to a; brief 
account of this culminating event in the work of the 
daring explorer. 

Peary is a native of Pennsylvania, in which State 
he was born at Cresson Springs in 1856. He was thus 
over fifty years of age at the date of his notable achieve- 
ment. He entered the civil engineer corps of the 
United States navy in 1881, and began his series of 
Polar research voyages in 1886, five years later. In 
1891 he became chief of the Arctic expedition of the 
Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, and 
continued to make similar voyages northward at inter- 
vals, as stated in the preceding article. These efforts 
attracted much attention, especially those in which he 



346 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

crossed Greenland near its northern extremity and 
proved it to be an island, with a frozen sea as its north- 
ern boundary. His continued attempts, each develop- 
ing his knowledge of Arctic geography, added to the 
interest taken in his) exploits, and his new and latest 
expedition in 1908 led to warm hopes of a final success. 
As this success was achieved, a statement of the leading 
events, as told in his own story of his adventures, may 
be fittingly given here as one of the greatest feats of 
discovery made by citizens of the United States. 

It was his purpose in this voyage to drive his vessel, 
appropriately named the "Roosevelt," after the then 
President, as far north as possible. Cape Sheridan, in 
northern Greenland, at 82 30' north latitude, was 
chosen as the point of departure of the sledging parties 
upon which the final work depended. Here the 
" Roosevelt " was laid up in September, 1908, to await 
the proper season for departure in the following year. 
The winter spent there was occupied in collecting food 
for the enterprise and in other duties, and on the 15th 
of February, 1909, Captain Bartlett, master of the 
" Roosevelt," set out on the pioneer sledge journey 
north, with a party of Eskimos and other members of 
the expedition. Peary followed on the morning of 
February 22 — Washington's Birthday — with two of 
the younger Eskimos and sixteen dogs Other parties 
set out at different dates, there being in the northward 
group seven members of the, expedition, nineteen 
Eskimos, twenty-eight sledges and one hundred and 
forty dogs. These were to meet at Cape Columbia on 
the last day of February, the trail to this point having 
been kept open during the autumn and winter by hunt- 
ing parties and supply trains. 

On March 1 Peary began his long journey from 
Cape Columbia over the Arctic ice, two other parties, 




JlgfjfHP 



' ! liSrP 1 *^' 






"s.S. ROOSEVELT" AGAINST THE EDGE OF THE UNBROKEN ICE FLOES 

Note the lines of the "Roosevelt," the shapely raking stem, the slender pole 
masts, the elliptical smokestack, and the "crow's nest" at the mast head 



IN AMERICA 347 

led by Bartlett and Borup, other members of the expe- 
dition, having set out the day before. An hour after 
camp was left Peary's division crossed the glacial 
fringe. The entire expedition had now left land 
behind and was at last on the ice of the Arctic Ocean 
at about 83 ° north latitude. This start was made eight 
days earlier than that made three years before by the 
1905-1906 expedition, and took place from a point 
further north. What lay before the adventurers they 
did not know; whether they would find continuous 
ice, or possibly meet with islands on which no human 
foot had ever set. They were utterly in the realm of 
the unknown, with the Pole for their final quarry. 

One thing was soon made evident. The ocean they 
were crossing was not solely one of ice. There were 
lanes of open water to attack, frequent ones, and 
trouble in this direction was likely to be soon encoun- 
tered. Thus they had gone but part of a day's march 
when they saw before them a dark, ominous cloud, an 
appearance that told them, from former experience, the 
story of open water. This aspect arises from evapora- 
tion at the open spaces, the vapour, in certain directions 
of the wind, condensing into a cloud so dense that at 
times it is as black as the smoke of a prairie fire. Before 
them also dark spots were visible, these indicating that 
the forward divisions had been held up by the evident 
lead of open water. It proved to be a lane a quarter 
mile wide, the result of a severe wind that had been 
blowing. Nothing was to be done but to camp and wait 
for the frosty air to get in its work. Igloos, or huts 
constructed of flat cakes of frozen snow, were hastily 
built, a matter of house-making that takes but an hour 
in skillful hands. There was then nothing more to do 
than to take the opportunity to rest and sleep in these 
warmed and comfortable abodes. 



348 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

The early light of the following day showed the lead 
fast closing, young ice moving and piling up in an 
aggravating way that threatened loss to any team that 
should seek to cross it. They had not gone far past this 
ice bridged opening before they came upon two other 
leads and here found themselves unable to move in any 
direction. Waiting again became needful, but the 
trail of Bartlett, who was in advance, was sought for 
and quickly found, a movement being now made in 
this direction. 

This trail reached, the adventurers perceived other 
tracks of men and dogs, these pointing south, a proof 
that Borup and his sledges were on their way back 
towards Cape Columbia in accordance with the pro- 
gram, which provided for successive returns to the 
starting point. When Marvin, the leader of the next 
following party, came up, he was also stopped and sent 
back. This was due to the fact that many of their 
alcohol and petroleum tins had sprung leaks in the 
rough travel, and it was necessary to change these leaky 
tins for sound ones so as to conserve their fuel supply. 
A few minutes sufficed to make the exchange, and 
Marvin headed back with his leaky reservoirs, while 
Peary's party pushed actively onward. 

The difficulty of breaking ice and opening leads kept 
up during the next day, again causing delay and vexa- 
tion. This was especially the case on March 4th, when 
a broad and threatening black band appeared to the 
north, seemingly ten or fifteen miles in advance. Here 
the broken ice appeared to be floating in every direc- 
tion and the high temperature then prevailing, only a 
little below zero, indicated that an abundance of open 
water lay in advance. Evidently serious trouble was 
looming across the northward route. 

Later in the day Bartlett's camp was reached. He 






IN AMERICA 349 

had been held up by the wide leads which here had 
opened through the heavy floes. As the floes are at 
times a hundred feet thick and of enormous weight, 
only a tremendous force could open such a river 
through them. The opening had taken place the 
previous night, awakening Bartlett from sleep and 
filling his soul with concern. As before, there was 
nothing to do but wait and hope. As it proved, the 
seemingly interminable period of no less than five days 
passed away, and still the long line of black water faced 
the travellers, aggravating them to the utmost pitch. 
The utmost that could be done was to send back for sup- 
plies that had been left at points in the rear, including 
a portion of Borup's cache that they had not been 
previously able to load on their sledges. Borup and 
Marvin had been directed to return from their base 
with fresh supplies of oil and alcohol. A supply of 
these was vital to success. But even if these parties 
should fail to return, the indefatigable Peary was 
determined to push forward until the utmost minimum 
of food and fuel remained. 

There were other difficulties to contend with. The 
protracted delay had a demoralizing effect upon the 
Eskimos. They were getting nervous, and could be 
seen talking secretly with one another. Two of them 
who had been with Peary for years and whom he had 
fully trusted came to him pretending to be sick. He 
knew the appearance of a sick Eskimo too well to 
believe them, but he sent the pair back to the land, 
giving them a note to Marvin urging him to hurry. As 
the days went by others of them began to complain of 
imaginary ailments. McMillan, one of the company 
leaders, was of the utmost value in this crisis. Seeing 
the state of mind of the Eskimos, he took in hand the 
problem of keeping them occupied, interesting them in 



35o HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

various ways, as in games and athletic exercises of one 
kind or another. 

By the evening of March 10 the lead had almost 
closed and Peary gave orders to make a fresh start the 
next morning without waiting for the arrival of Marvin 
with the oil and alcohol. The latter had been in some 
way delayed, but progress was necessary and they had 
to trust to his overtaking them. A note was left in the 
igloo for him, bidding him make all haste, and at 
9 a.m. of March n the adventurers once more set out, 
crossing the closed lead without trouble and making a 
march of not less than twelve miles. No fewer than 
seven partly closed leads were crossed that day, from a 
half mile to a mile in width, all covered with ice barely 
strong enough to bear the laden sledges, the 84th paral- 
lel being crossed on this march. The temperature had 
greatly fallen, it varying during these days from 45 
to 59 below zero and making ice fast. Yet with the 
bright sunshine at midday and their thick fur clothing, 
they did not suffer from the cold. 

The 12th and 13th accounted for some twenty-four 
miles further, and they had just finished building their 
igloos on the evening of the latter day when one of 
the Eskimos, who was standing on top of the hummock, 
loudly shouted: 

" Kling mik-sue ! " (Dogs are coming.) 

In an instant Peary was on the hummock beside him. 
Looking south, far away, a little band of silver white 
mist lay on their trail. It was surely the dogs. A little 
later a light sledge, drawn by eight dogs, dashed 
briskly up, its Eskimo driver bearing a note from 
Marvin saying that he and Borup had slept the night 
before at their second camp back and that in a day or 
two more they would be close on the forward trail. 
The rear party, with the greatly needed loads of oil and 






IN AMERICA 351 

alcohol, had crossed the " Big Lead." In the late after- 
noon of the next day, March 14, another cloud of 
silvery smoke was seen on their trail and soon after 
Marvin, at the head of the rear division, came swinging 
in, dogs and men smoking like a squadron of battle- 
ships and bringing an ample supply of fuel. Never 
had Peary been gladder to see the true eyes of Ross 
Marvin. 

On the morning of the 15th McMillan, who was suf- 
fering from a sorely frosted heel, was sent back with 
two sledges and two Eskimos to Cape Columbia, while 
the main expedition, now comprising sixteen men, 
twelve sledges and one hundred dogs, headed off to the 
north again. Late in the afternoon loud reports and 
rumbling sounds of moving floes began to be heard, 
with the grinding sound of moving young ice in various 
directions. This meant more open water ahead. It 
was soon reached at a point where large fields of float- 
ing ice seemed to form a sort of pontoon bridge, over 
which they all got but one of Borup's sledges, the dogs 
of which slipped into the water between two large cakes 
of ice. Fortunately Borup was alert, strong and ath- 
letic, and with a quick and vigorous uplift, he pulled 
them bodily out of the water, thus saving one of their 
most valuable sleds with about 500 pounds of supplies 
which could not well be spared. A short distance ahead 
another lead opened directly in front and they were 
obliged to camp for the night. 

In this rapid survey of the opening days of Peary's 
exploit we have gone into considerable detail to indicate 
the nature of the task he had undertaken and the varied 
difficulties with which he had to contend. The most 
important and perilous of them was the continued tend- 
ency of the ice to break into leads or open lanes, often 
of considerable width, and in many cases impossible to 



352 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

cross until the wintry chill closed the gap, a matter 
sometimes of hours, sometimes of days. The five days' 
stop by which he had been held up almost at the 
beginning of his journey was much the worst he had 
to encounter and one not to be endured without the 
greatest anxiety and concern, especially from his recol- 
lection of a still worse experience of this kind on a 
previous occasion, that of his expedition three years 
earlier. 

On that occasion he had made an encouraging north- 
ing, reaching the parallel of 8y° 9' on April 21, 1905, 
when the rapidly decreasing supply of food forced him 
to turn back. His trouble on this occasion came during 
the return, when the party encountered what they 
named the " Big Lead," a broad opening in the ice 
which seemed as if it would never close, or at least 
not until it held the party prisoners till starvation had 
ended their career. Though this prison door at length 
opened and set the captives free, they were forced to 
land on the inhospitable coast of North Greenland, 
where food was almost impossible to obtain, and they 
escaped death from starvation only by the narrowest 
margin. This experience would have been deemed 
sufficient by any ordinary person, but Robert E. Peary 
was not an ordinary person, but a man of indomitable 
courage and daring, whom only the most complete 
failure could deter. He had devoted his life to the 
conquest of the Pole, to the solving of that great riddle 
of geographical research which numbers of mariners 
before him had in vain sought to solve, and he was 
bent upon achieving it if it lay within the power of 
man. This he had set out to do, at every risk, on the 
present occasion, and favoring fortune was now to 
lead him to his goal. 

On the evening of March 19th Peary outlined to his 



IN AMERICA 353 

followers the program he had in mind, consisting in 
a gradual reduction of the force as they advanced 
nearer the Pole. McMillan had already turned back, 
and at the end of the next march Borup was to do the 
same, with twenty dogs and one sledge. Five marches 
further on Marvin was to begin his homeward journey, 
and at the end of the next five marches Bartlett would 
turn his face southward, leaving to the main party only 
six men, forty dogs and five sledges. The return 
parties took with them the poorest dogs, the least 
effective Eskimos and the most damaged sledges, so 
that only the best should go forward. As the event 
proved, this program was carried out without a hitch, 
the final party consisting of Peary himself, his colored 
servant, Henson, a trustworthy man of long Arctic 
experience, and the best four of the Eskimos. So far 
north were they that the sun now circled round the 
heavens, being above the horizon nearly half the day, 
while during the other half darkness was replaced by 
a grey twilight. 

Borup turned back — very little to his liking — at 
85 20', and Marvin— with like regret— at 86° 38', the 
expedition having now passed the farthest of all its 
predecessors and being near Peary's own record of 
1906. On March 27th the 87th parallel was crossed, and 
six miles beyond this point the farthest north of the 
1906 journey was attained. As matters stood there was 
a great difference for the better between the two occa- 
sions. Then they had exhausted dogs, depleted sup- 
plies and heavy hearts. Now men and dogs alike were 
in good condition, supplies abundant, and their hearts 
light. Overhead there was perpetual daylight, the 
sun circling around without crossing the horizon, and 
success seemed almost in their grasp. There were 
nearly one hundred and eighty nautical miles of frozen 
23 



354 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

surface yet to cross, but their elation made little of this 
and they looked forward with strong hopes of a speedy 
victory over the frozen polar seas. 

Bartlett and his party were now in the lead, with 
Peary close upon their track, but a region of trouble 
still awaited them ahead. A foretaste of danger came 
on the night of the 28th, when a creaking and groaning 
of the ice near Peary's igloo awakened him from a 
sound sleep. Soon after an excited shout brought him 
hastily to his feet. Looking out, he was startled to see 
a belt of black water between the igloos of the two 
parties, the shouting coming from one of Bartlett's 
Eskimos. This had taken place within a foot of the 
fastening of one of the dog teams, which barely escaped 
being dragged into the water. Another team had just 
escaped being buried under a ridge of ice, the move- 
ment of which had fortunately stopped at the fatal 
moment. Bartlett's igloo was floating away on an ice 
raft that had broken off. The whole condition of 
affairs was critical and serious peril impended. 

Everybody was ordered to pack and hitch up imme- 
diately and a path was levelled with a pick-axe across 
the crack to the big floe that lay to the west. Across 
this Bartlett's sledges were hastily drawn over the ice 
raft that held them. Nearer and nearer came the 
edges of the floe and the floating raft. At length they 
touched and crunched together. All hands were ready 
and in brief time Bartlett's teams were on the floe. One 
not very agreeable task in that frigid temperature 
remained. The former igloos were lost and new ones 
had to be built with all possible rapidity, that they 
might complete their broken slumbers. There was but 
one source of satisfaction in the situation, this being in 
the fact that Peary's former record had now been 
beaten by a stretch of some six miles and that new and 
promising opportunities lay ahead. 



IN AMERICA 355 

The 31st of March was to be the last day of Bart- 
lett's Polar progress, one in which he hoped to win up 
to the parallel of 88°. This he failed to do, 87 47' 
being the limit attained. At this altitude he turned back, 
with the same regretful feelings as had visited his pred- 
ecessors, heading southward over the route he had so 
long followed to the north. Two divisions of the expe- 
dition remained, Peary's and Henson's, with five sledges 
and forty dogs, the pick of the original one hundred 
and forty. The distance still to cover was one hundred 
and thirty-three nautical miles. In the new and final 
dash the leader proposed to make five forced marches 
of not less than twenty-five miles each. It was his hope 
to bring his journey to an end by noon of the final day, 
so as to make an immediate latitude observation. With 
the improved condition of the ice and the set of the 
winds to the north he felt that there was excellent hope 
of accomplishing this. While a serious break in the 
ice might prevent him, he had much reason to feel that 
the chances were greatly in his favor. He had the 
pick of his dogs and sledges, his most trusty Eskimos, 
food enough awaiting him on his way back, and all 
looked well for a successful going forward and a safe 
return. 

On the 1st of April the adventurers treated them- 
selves to an enjoyable feast. They had killed and 
boiled one of Bartlett's poorest dogs, one that the 
return party could spare, using the splinters of a 
broken sledge for fuel under their cooking vessel, and 
the fresh meat, hot from the boiler, was a welcome 
change from their pemmican diet. At least it was so 
to the Eskimos, their leader having no appetite for 
boiled dog ; though he had on one occasion eaten raw 
dog to save him from starvation. 
» On the morning of the 2d, after a refreshing sleep 



356 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

and a hearty breakfast, the Polar party set out on its 
final journey. It consisted of Peary and Henson, with 
four trusty Eskimos, five well-laden sledges and their 
dogs, the goal for which they had long striven lying 
five forced marches ahead and the ice, to all appear- 
ance, being in excellent travelling condition. The 
wind had subsided to a gentle breeze, the skies were 
clear, the temperature minus 25 °, the floes large and 
level, the ridges due to pressure, some of them fifty 
feet high, presenting no serious difficulty, and every- 
thing before them holding out a hopeful promise. 

The first April day's journey, a straight ten-hour 
drive of twenty-five or thirty miles, carried them well 
over the 88th parallel, reaching a region never before 
touched by human feet. But near the end of the day's 
outing their old trouble returned, the ice breaking and 
a lead opening across their line of travel. Speeding up, 
they drove their teams briskly across the moving ice 
cakes, being aided in this by the length of their sledges, 
which were of a new Peary type, twelve feet long, 
instead of the old seven-foot Eskimo type. The locality 
in which they now were presented a remarkably 
attractive spectacle. Not only was the sun circling 
around above the horizon all day long, but the moon 
was making a like circle opposite the solar orb, a disk 
of silver opposite a disk of gold racing through the blue 
skies overhead. 

Every day now they made a ten-hour trip, with an 
average of twenty-five miles' advance, the dogs often 
on the trot and at times breaking into a brisk run, 
while even the Eskimos grew more eager, notwith- 
standing the fatigue of their daily marches. By the 
night of the 4th they were near the 89th parallel, only 
a single degree more being needed to carry them to 
the stopping point in their long and arduous journey. 



IN AMERICA 357 

Peary was naturally much elated, and wrote hopefully 
in his diary : " Give me three more days of this 
weather !" 

It cannot be said that these were altogether agree- 
able days. With the temperature now minus 35 °, only 
an inflexible purpose enabled them to face the biting 
cold. The keen wind seemed to burn their faces so 
that the skin cracked, the pain long after they got into 
camp being so that they could hardly sleep. The Eski- 
mos complained greatly and at every camp wrapped 
their fur clothing about their faces, waists, knees and 
wrists. Even their noses brought forth complaints, 
a new thing in Eskimo experience, the keen wind bit- 
ing them like frozen steel. 

At the next camp another of the dogs was killed, 
to put more glow into the Eskimo souls. The leader 
proposed the following day to make a long march, 
" boil the kettle " midway, and then go on without 
sleep, in this way to make up for lost ground on one 
of the preceding, days. At the camp of April 5 the 
latitude of 89 ° 25' was indicated, thirty-five nautical 
miles from the Pole. Here Peary gave the men a little 
more time for sleep, as they were much in need of rest, 
but before midnight of that day they were up and going 
again. The roadway at this point was excellent, there 
being hardly any snow on the hard surface of the old 
floes, while the thermometer rose to minus 15 . This 
reduced chill gave new spirit alike to men and dogs, 
and on this day they made in all thirty miles in twelve 
hours' travel, stopping midway to make tea, eat lunch 
and take a resting spell. 

At 10 o'clock in the morning of April 6th another 
halt was made and an observation for latitude taken. 
It gave the welcome figures of 89 57', only three miles 
from the so long sought North Pole, the extremity of 



358 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

the earth's axis in the northern hemisphere. Elated as 
the explorer was at this near end of his long struggle, 
he was too weary to take these few remaining steps 
without a halt for rest. As soon as they had built their 
polar igloos, eaten their dinner and fed the dogs a 
double ration, they gave way to the greatly needed 
slumber. But the indomitable Peary was in too excited 
a state for a long sleep. He was awake again after a 
few hours' rest, the first thing done after waking being 
to write as follows in his diary : 

" The Pole at last ! The prize of three centuries. 
My dream and goal for twenty years. Mine at last! 
I cannot bring myself to realize it. It seems all so 
simple and commonplace. ,, 

In the evening of that day, after a trip of about ten 
miles in a light sledge, he took a careful series of 
observations of the solar altitude and found that the 
Pole had been passed and that he was several miles on 
the opposite side of his goal. He had passed from the 
western to the eastern hemisphere in that short run 
and was now traveling south instead of north. On 
reaching the Pole the direction of north, west and 
east had disappeared and only that of south remained. 
In whatever direction he should set out he would be 
traveling towards the south. 

To the observation taken on April 6th others were 
added until thirteen had been taken in all. These were 
in different localities and made assurance doubly sure 
that the party had reached the most significant — aside 
from the opposite pole — unknown, or at least unvisited, 
location on the surface of the earth. Moved by the 
explorer's warrantable desire for fame, he had given 
a great part of his life to this worthy object and had 
at length succeeded in winning for himself the well- 
deserved title of Discoverer of the North Pole, the 
most notable then remaining of maritime events. 



THE STARS AND STRIPES AT THE NORTH POLE, APRIL 6, I909 



IN AMERICA 359 

What had been accomplished was all that was 
needed. The Pole had been reached and passed. Get- 
ting back in haste and safety was now the important 
matter to be considered. A few informal ceremonies 
were all that appeared desirable. Five flags were 
planted at the " top of the world," the principal one 
being a silk American flag which Mrs. Peary had given 
him fifteen years before and which he had carried 
wrapped around his body on every northward trip 
since, a fragment of it being left at each " farthest 
north." These flags placed in the ice, he bade Henson 
to time the Eskimos for three hearty cheers, which 
they gave with much enthusiasm, though they had a 
very limited idea of what it all signified. He also, at 
the first locality where the thick ice could be penetrated, 
made a sounding, the line sinking fifteen hundred 
fathoms without reaching bottom, indicating an ocean 
of considerable depth. Little time was spent in this 
ceremony, and in the afternoon of April 7th the party 
began its return from the Pole, having spent a brief 
thirty hours in its vicinity. The great enterprise which 
had been so often attempted and had so often failed, 
now lay among the things accomplished, and return, a 
safe return, was the one thing to be considered. Henson 
and the Eskimos were ready to take the homeward 
trail. Their work was done, and to reach the land 
which they had left a month and more before was the 
remaining task. 

We have completed the story of Lieutenant — now 
Admiral — Peary's final Polar expedition, with its tri- 
umphant success. The work had been accomplished, the 
discovery achieved, only the return lay before him. 
But in this return many of the difficulties and dangers 
encountered in the northward journey had again to be 
met and overcome, especially the one great and ever 



360 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

imminent danger, that of the frequent breaking of the 
ice and the opening of long lanes of water to be crossed 
by dogs and sledges. In the 1906 expedition much the 
greatest peril lay in the return, one in which death by 
starvation was barely escaped even after land had been 
reached. This time the work had been accomplished, 
the famous discovery made, abundance of food for the 
six men and their dogs was on the sledges, exulta- 
tion filled their hearts, the world awaited their story, 
and warm hope inspired the adventurers as they once 
more turned their faces to the south and set out with 
their still capable dog teams on the return. 

It was at the hour of 4 o'clock in the afternoon of 
April 7, 1909, that the victors of the Pole turned their 
backs upon that long sought for goal, cracked their 
whips over the well-fed and willing dogs, and faced to- 
wards the distant land and the civilization beyond. This 
needed to be done on the strain. Every hour, every 
minute, now counted for success or failure. Peary's 
plan was to make double marches over the entire jour- 
ney to where the " Roosevelt " awaited them on Green- 
land's barren coast. While this plan was not fully car- 
ried out, it was achieved in great measure, they covering 
five of their outward marches in each three of the 
return. And they were fortunate in not being drifted 
eastwardly from their course, as was the case in 1906, 
but kept well to their westward trail, following it with 
little trouble and finding the stopping places of the 
return parties for the most part in good condition. 

The first return camp, at 89 ° 25', was made in good 
time, and here the plan was adopted of feeding the dogs 
according to the distance covered : giving them double 
rations for double marches. They found the igloos 
built in their former journey awaiting them, and were 
thus saved the labor and time needed to rebuild them. 



IN AMERICA 361 

In most cases there was nothing to be done except to 
eat and sleep. And they were at every step cheered by 
the memory of what they had accomplished and what 
they had to tell. 

April 9th was a wild day, the wind freshening into 
a gale, while leads through the ice were met, one of 
these fully a mile wide. Fortunately the wind came 
from the north, or it would have been impossible to 
advance. As it was, the dogs galloped before the gale 
and new-formed ice enabled them to cross the wide 
lead, so that good progress was made. And so it went 
on day after day, with much fine weather and a tem- 
perature of mild type for the locality. The ice was 
thinning, but the sledges were much lighter than in 
the northward trip and they could be rushed over ice 
that could not have been ventured upon then. 

Trouble was expected with some warrant on the 
march of April 20-21. They were now near the 
locality of the " Big Lead " that had proved so dis- 
astrous in 1906 and had troubled them again in their 
recent journey north. Fortunately, they now found it 
frozen over. But at this point Bartlett had lost the 
main trail in his return, and in following him they 
were diverted from the well-beaten outward track. 
Yet they had no reason to complain. They were now 
nearing the land, this being only some fifty miles dis- 
tant. For several days they had enjoyed splendid 
weather, and this continued over the next day, in 
which they made two marches of six hours each. The 
last day's journey before land was reached was marked 
by the same brilliant and calm weather, though the 
temperature was low, ranging from 18 to 30 below 
zero. Their final lead was here met with, and one of 
their teams got into the water in an effort to cross it. 
But before midnight of that day the glacial fringe of 



362 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

Grant Land was reached, bringing them off the ice of 
the Polar sea and on the ice-clad foot of the land. 
When the last sledge came to this steep slope of glacial 
ice the Eskimos of the party fairly went crazy in their 
delight, yelling and dancing until they fell from utter 
exhaustion. As Ootah, one of them, sank on his sledge 
he called out in Eskimo : *' The devil is asleep or is 
having trouble with his wife, or we should never have 
come back so easily." After halting for a luncheon and 
some hot tea, they pressed on until Cape Columbia was 
reached. It was now the early morning of April 23, 
the entire journey outward and return over the Polar 
seas having occupied fifty-three days. 

For nearly the whole of two days the party slept, 
overcome with the long strain of the journey, their 
short intervening wakefulness being occupied with eat- 
ing and with drying their clothes. The dogs, which 
had arrived spent with fatigue and lacking all anima- 
tion, here showed a gratification equal to that of the 
men, they stepping about with curled tails and uplifted 
heads, and now and then sniffing the welcome scent of 
the land. 

The " Roosevelt," with the remainder of the party 
on board, was still to reach. It lay ninety miles away 
to the south, and this distance was covered in one 
march of forty-five miles to Cape Hecla, and another of 
equal length southward. As the ship was neared they 
saw Bartlett crossing the rail. He came forward to 
meet them, but not with the look of elation at their 
return that it was natural to expect. There was that 
in his face that told of ill tidings before he spoke. 

" Have you heard about poor Marvin ?" he asked. 

" No," Peary replied. 

The tale he had to tell was that Marvin was dead, 
having been drowned at the " Big Lead " on his way 



IN AMERICA 363 

back to Cape Columbia. He had gone forward over 
treacherous young ice and was never seen again. In 
some way he had fallen or slipped into the water, and 
had not been missed by his party until it was too late 
to help him. His loss, the only one in the long journey, 
threw a shadow of sorrow over the whole assemblage, 
he having been one of the most capable and esteemed 
among them all. 

One of the first things done after reaching the ship 
was to reward their faithful Eskimos. Money was of 
no value to them, nor many other things which civilized 
people highly prize. But there were other things 
which they highly appreciated, and they were all well 
supplied with rifles, shotguns, cartridges, hatchets, 
knives, and many other useful articles, gifts which 
filled their souls with joy. Among the things which 
they highly value are telescopes, which aid them in 
discovering distant game, and a number of these were 
added to their treasures. The four who accompanied 
the exploring party to the Pole had been promised 
whaleboats and certain other valued articles, and these 
were given them when they were dropped from the 
ship at their home settlements along the coast. 

The return home from Cape Sheridan began on 
July 1 8th, about three months after the return to 
Greenland from the Pole. On September 5th they 
steamed into Indian Harbor, Newfoundland, whence a 
•dispatch went over the wires to Mrs. Peaiy, to the fol- 
lowing effect : " Have made good at last. I have the 
Pole. Am well. Love." Not long afterwards the 
" Roosevelt " made its way into the little harbor of 
Sydney, Cape Breton, whence details of the triumphant 
success of the expedition were flashed to all parts of the 
civilized world. The greatest of geographical mysteries 
had been solved. 



364 HEROES OF DISCOVERY 

There is little more to be said. For a time it seemed 
as if Peary might be robbed of the honor he had won, 
after so many years of stringent effort. Dr. Frederick 
A. Cook, of Brooklyn, who had for a year or two been 
lost sight of in the north, returned September 1, 1909, 
with the statement that he had reached the Pole on 
April 21, 1908. But investigation proved that this 
story was false, and the full credit for the discovery 
was left to the unwearying Peary. 

The North Pole was the first though not the only 
axial enigma to be solved. The South Pole remained, 
of less interest to geographers, yet now brought prom- 
inently into notice. There was a marked difference 
in situation between the two, the North Pole being 
surrounded by an Arctic Ocean of great width and 
considerable depth, the South Pole by an Antarctic 
island of almost continental dimensions; the first to 
be reached over ice-clad water, the latter over moun- 
tain elevations. We need only to speak briefly of the 
South Pole discovery. In 1908 Lieutenant Shackleton, 
of the British navy, reached a point only one hundred 
and eleven miles from this Pole. On January 18, 1912, 
it was attained by Captain Scott, of the same navy. 
It had, however, been reached a little earlier by the 
Norwegian explorer, Raold Amundsen, who had pro- 
jected a voyage to the Arctic, but changed his route to 
the Antarctic, and reached the South Pole on Decem- 
ber 14, 191 1, a little more than a month before Scott. 
Thus, in a period of something over two years both 
extremities of the earth's axis were reached and a great 
geographical mystery was finally solved. 

There is one thing of interest still to be said. The 
Poles of the earth, North and South, had been discov- 
ered just in the nick of time. Had Peary not completed 
his notable work in the north, and been followed by 



IN AMERICA 365 

Amundsen and Scott in the south, the Poles would 
perhaps never have been discovered — at least in any 
significant sense, in any way demanding toil and peril. 
They would simply have been visited, as the result of 
a few days' uneventful journeying. For a new dis- 
covery of great significance had been made — that of 
an easy and available route to the poles, one through 
the air instead of over frozen ocean or icy mountains. 
The airship had been invented, and within ten years 
of Peary's discovery it had reached a stage of develop- 
ment sufficient to render a Polar trip through the atmos- 
phere a fairly easy adventure, and this by, a few days' 
flight above the earth's surface instead of by a toilsome 
and perilous crawl over this surface. The world of 
science was now in no hurry to make the trip. It 
already knew the story of the Poles. It was quite willing 
to take its time in repeating the journeys, north and 
south. The excursion promised to be a commonplace 
matter, one attended by the pleasant accompaniments 
of summer sunshine and comfortable surroundings. 
As matters stood, Peary and his successors had blazed 
the way. All that was now needed was to follow their 
routes, with the knowledge that the trail lay open, ready 
for any adventurer to follow. 



1 



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